Comparative Effect of Different Fungicides on plant growth attributes of onion against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cepae causing Basal Rot Disease of Onion

The onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops that is cultivated worldwide. It is one of the most important vegetable cash crops of Balochistan with an area of 35.8 thousand ha and a production of 681.5 thousand tonnes. It is attacked by many diseases, which affect the yield. Among onion diseases, the basal rot of onion is one of the most important diseases of onion caused by fungus (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cepae) that causes heavy losses of onion production and its quality worldwide. Keeping in view the economic importance of disease, the current study was carried out at the Directorate of Vegetable Seed Production, Agricultural Research Institute, Quetta, Balochistan. In the greenhouse experiment, plant growth attributes like plant height, number of leaves, leaf length, bulb size, bulb weight, root length, and root weight were significantly increased by all treatments. The Topsin-M was found most effective at all concentrations with the highest plant biomass production and biological yield, as with maximum plant height (72.30 cm), number of leaves (13.00), leaf length (62.23 cm), bulb size (5.45 dia), bulb weight (108.00 g), root length (18.26 cm), and root weight (1.45 g) at a concentration of 1% after 130 days, followed by Cabriotop, Score, and Antracol at 1% doses, respectively. While Mencozeb+ Metalxyl was least effective with plant height (45.63 cm), number of leaves (8.00), leaf length (35.90 cm), bulb size (3.81 dia), bulb weight (64.23 g), root length (8.18 cm), and root weight (0.36 g), at a level of 0.25% after 130 days over the control.