J. Agrofor. Environ. 7 (2): 175-178, 2013.

ISSN 1995-
6983
Growth and Yield of Onion as Influenced by Organic Manures
M. A. Suem, M. Ali, M. Robbani, S. K. Bose and M. S. Rahman
Department of Horticulture, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Dumki,
Patuakhali-8602
Abstract

An investigation was carried out at the Research Farm of Patuakhali Science and
Technology University (PSTU) during November 2011 to April 2012 to assess the
growth and yield performance of onion as influenced by different organic manures.
The experiment comprised four levels of organic manures viz., poultry manure,
cowdung, compost and musterd oil cake and two onion varieties viz., BARI Piaz 4
and Faridpur vati. The two-factor experiment was laid out in the randomized complete
block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were collected on growth and yield
components of onion. Statistically significant variation was observed in respect of
variety, manure treatments and their combinations. Growth characteristics, viz., plant
height, number of leaves per plant and leaf length was better with BARI Piaz 4
(48.87, 7.90 and 42.86 cm, respectively) and poultry manure (50.32, 7.82 and 44.26
cm, respectively). The variety BARI Piaz 4 and poultry manure performed the best on
production of fresh weight (39.55 and 42.22 g, respectively) and dry weight of bulb
(32.89 and 41.97 g, respectively. In respect of variety, the highest yield (13.62 t/ha)
was found from the variety BARI Piaz 4. Among the organic manure treatments, the
highest yield (13.70 t/ha) was observed from poultry manure, where as the lowest
yield (11.80 t/ha) was marked from control treatment. In case of combined effect the
highest yield (14.72 t/ha) was obtained from the treatment combination of poultry
manure and BARI piaz 4.

Key words: Onion, organic manures, growth and yield.

Introduction
Onion (Allium cepa L.) belongs to the family Alliaceae and is one of the most important
monocotyledonous and cross-pollinated spices as well as vegetable crop. In Bangladesh,
it is grown almost in all the districts, but is commonly cultivated in the greater
districts of Faridpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Comilla, Jessore, Rangpur and
Pabna. Maniruzzaman et al. (2010) reported that onion is the second most valuable
vegetable in the world following only tomato but it ranks first among the spices.
Onion is an integral part of our daily diet and its use is very common in almost all
food preparations (Hossain and Islam ,1994). It is also used as preservative and
medicine (Vohra et al.,1994). So, the demands for onion are augmenting day by day
where the area under onion cultivation is not increasing rather it is decreasing. As a
result, Bangladesh has to import onion from other countries to meet its demand
(Hossain and Islam 1994). To enhance onion production, improved and modern
agronomic practices should be applied properly (Islam et al., 2007). The organic
manure is an eco-friendly, economically viable and ecologically sound that also
played a significant role in soil biology, chemistry and physics. Soil organic matter
supplies available nutrients through is decomposition and may serve as source of
mineral nutrients (El-Koumey and Abu-Agwa, 1993) and may contain useful
agronomical amounts of macro and micro nutrients (Campbell and Beckett, 1988 and
Ayed Abdelrazzag, 2002). Addition of organic manure into soil resulted in increasing
concentration of micronutrients in top soil because organic manure contains higher
concentration of essential nutrients than most soils (Campbell and Beckett, 1988 and
McGrath and Cegarra, 1992). Organic fertilizers have positive effect on root growth
by improving the root rizosfer conditions (structure, humidity, etc.) and also plant
growth is encouraged by increasing the population of microorganisms (Shaheen et al.,
2007). The information on role of cowdung, poultry manure, compost and mustard oil
cake and their combinations on production of onion is very much scanty. Therefore,
there is an urgent need to study the influence of organic manures and their
combinations on growth, yield and quality of onion. Hence, the present study was
undertaken to assess the growth and yield performances of onion varieties as
influenced by different organic manures.

Materials and Methods

The experiment was carried out at the Research Farm of Patuakhali Science and
Technology University (PSTU) during November 2011 to April 2012 to assess the
growth and yield performance of onion as influenced by different organic manures.
The experiment comprised four levels of organic manures viz., poultry manure,
cowdung, compost and musterd oil cake and two onion varieties viz., BARI Piaz 4
and Faridpur vati. The two-factor experiment was laid out in the randomized complete
block design (RCBD) with three replications. The land which was selected to conduct
the experiment was opened 1st December 2011 with the help of a power tiller and then
it was kept open to sun for 7 days prior to further ploughing. Afterwards it was
prepared by ploughing and cross ploughing followed by laddering. Different organic
manures such as poultry manrue, cowdung, compost and mustard oil cake were
applied in the field at 15 days before transplanting as per the treatments and finally
incorporated with the soil one day before transplanting. The 45 days young plants of
assigned two onion varieties were transplanted in the research field on December 14,
2011. Different intercultural operation was done to keep the plots free from weeds and
for better aeration of soil. Data from the experiment were statistically analyzed in
MSTAT-C computer program (Russel, 1986). The mean values for all the parameters
were calculated and the analysis of variance for the characters was accomplished by
‘F’ test. The significance difference between two pair of means was tested by the
Duncan’s Multiple Rnage Test (DMRT) at 5 % levels of probability (Gomez and
Gomez, 1984).

Results and Discussion

The results of the investigation entitled growth and yield of onion as influenced by
organic manures carried out at Patuakhali Science and Technology University during
November 2011 to April 2012 are presented here under the following headings with
some tables and figures.

Effects of variety
The variety had significant effect on plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf
length, bulb diameter, bulb thickness, fresh weight of bulb, dry weight of bulb and
yield of onion. Plant height increased with the advancement of time and it was higher
(48.87 cm) in the variety BARI Piaz-4 than Faridpur Vati (46.22 cm) (Table 1).
Between two varieties, BARI Piaz 4 produced the higher number of leaves (7.90) than
Faridpur Vati (6.88) (Table 1). The maximum length of leaf was found (42.86 cm)
from the variety BARI Piaz 4 while the minimum (39.26 cm) was form the variety
Faridpur Vati (Table. 1). In respect of bulb diameter, BARI Piaz 4 gave the better
results (4.73 cm) than Faridpur Vati (4.49 cm) (Table 1). The variety Faridpur Vati
produce thicker bulb (4.59 cm) than variety BARI Piaz 4 (3.46 cm) (Table 1). In case
of fresh and dry weight of bulb, significantly higher bulb fresh (39.55 g) and dry
weight (32.89 g) were obtained from the variety BARI Piaz 4 than the variety
Faridpur vati ((29.61 and 28.58 g , respectively) (Table 1). Higher yield (13.62 t per
ha) was recorded with the variety BARI Piaz 4 where the variety Faridpur Vati gave
the minimum yield (11.97 t per ha) (Fig. 1).

Effects of manure treatments

The results showed that there were significant variations among the manure
treatments in respect of plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, bulb
diameter, bulb thickness, fresh weight of bulb, dry weight of bulb and yield of onion.
The tallest plant (50.32 cm) was recorded from poultry manure (M1) and it was
closely (48.84 cm) followed by mustard oil cake (M4) whereas the shortest plant
(42.77 cm) was recorded from control plot of onion
Table 1. Individual effect of variety and organic manures on the growth and yield of onion.
Treatments Plant Number of Leaf Bulb Bulb Bulb fresh Bulb dry
height leaves/plant length Diameter thickness weight weight (gm)
(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (gm)
Variety
BARI Piaz-4 48.87 a 7.9 a 42.86 a 4.73 a 3.46 b 39.55 a 32.89 a
Faridpur vati 46.22 b 6.88 b 39.26 b 4.49 b 4.59 a 28.58 b 29.61 b
Level of ** ** ** ** ** ** **
significance
Organic Manures
Control 42.77 d 7.10 d 39.06 e 4.04 c 4.50 a 22.63 d 14.46 e
Poultry manure 50.32 a 7.81 a 44.26 a 5.12 a 3.62 d 42.22 a 41.97 a
Cowdung 47.71 c 7.21 c 41.30 b 4.74 b 3.96 bc 38.10 b 34.97 c
Compost 48.12 b 7.45 b 40.93 c 4.62 b 3.91c 34.24 c 27.01 d
Mustard oil cake 48.84 ab 7.37 b 39.76 d 4.53 b 4.16 b 33.15 c 37.85 b
Level of ** ** ** ** ** ** **
significance
V1= BARI Piaz 4 and V2= Faridpur Vati
M0= Control (without organic manure) M1= Poultry manure @ 1.92 kg/ plot
M2= Cowdung @0.85 kg/ plot M3= Compost @1.44 kg/plot
M4= Mustard oil cake @1.11 kg/plot **= Significance at 1% level of probability

(Table. 1). The number of leaves per plant was highest (7.82) with the application of
poultry manure where the minimum number of leaves per plant (7.11) was found from
control treatment. However, another two organic manure viz. compost and mustard oil
cake were statistically similar in respect of number of leaves/plants (Table 1). Poultry
manure gave the longest leaf (44.26 cm) and shortest leaf (39.06 cm) was obtained
from control treatment (Table 1). The maximum diameter of bulb (5.12 cm) was
obtained with the application of poultry manure whereas the minimum diameter of
 bulb was recorded from without organic manure (4.04 cm) (Table 1). Among the
organic manure, without organic manure gave the highest thickness of bulb (4.51 cm)
when poultry manure produced the lowest (3.63 cm) thickness of bulb (Table 1).
Nutritional difficiency in the control treatment might hampered bulb enlargement. As
a result onion becomes thick upward instead of well up. The highest bulb fresh weight
(42.22 g) was obtained from the poultry manure application where the lowest of bulb
fresh weight (22.63 g) was found from without organic manure application (Table 1).
Among the organic manure, poultry manure gave significantly the highest average
dry weight (41.97 g)whereas the lowest average (14.46 g) dry weight of bulb was
recorded in control treatment (Table 1). The maximum yield (13.70 t per ha) found
from poultry manure where the lowest yield (11.80 t per ha) was recorded from
control treatment (Fig. 2).

16
a 14
a
14
b 13.5
b
12
13
c
10
Yield (t/ha)

Yield (t/ha)

12.5
d
8
12
e
6
11.5
4
2 11

0 10.5
M0 M1 M2 M3 M4
V1 V2
Organic Manures
Variety

Fig.1. Effect of variety on the yield of onion Fig.2. Effects of organic manures on the yield
of onion.
V1= BARI Piaz 4 and M1= Poultry manure @ 1.92 kg/ plot
V2= Faridpur Vati M2= Cowdung @0.85 kg/ plot
M0= Control (without organic manure) M3= Compost @1.44 kg/plot
M4= Mustard oil cake @1.11 kg/plot

Combined effects of variety and manure treatments

The combined effect of varieties and manure treatments had highly significant effect
on plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, bulb diameter, bulb thickness,
fresh weight of bulb, dry weight of bulb and yield of onion. The longest (51.39 cm)
plant was recorded from the variety BARI Piaz-4 with cowdung which was
statistically identical to poultry manure (50.28 cm) and mustard oil cake (50.21 cm)
with the similar variety and the shortest plant (42.51 cm) was recorded in control
treatment with the variety BARI Piaz 4 (Table 2). The maximum number of leaves
(8.26) was obtained from the variety BARI Piaz 4 with poultry manure, where the
minimum number of leaves per plant (6.62) was taken from the variety Faridpur Vati
when the onion plant was grown under control treatment (Table 2). The tallest leaf
was observed (46.32 cm) in variety BARI Piaz 4 when grown under poultry manure
and the shortest (37.50 cm) was obtained from Faridpur Vati when grown without
manure or control treatment(Table 2). The highest diameter of bulb (5.17 cm) was
recorded when the BARI Piaz 4 plants was grown in poultry manure, which was
statistically identical to the similar organic manure treatment with Faridpur Vati (5.07
cm) and the lowest diameter of bulb (3.83 cm) was noticed in without organic manure
with the variety Faridpur Vati (Table 2). The highest thickness of bulb (5.03 cm) was
obtained from the variety Faridpur Vati whereas compost manure gave the lowest
thickness of bulb (3.05 cm) with Faridpur Vati and it was statistically similar to the
poultry manure when applied to Faridpur Vati (Table 2). Fresh weight of bulb was
also found significantly the highest with the variety BARI Piaz 4 (49.00 g) when
poultry manure was applied on this plant and the lowest fresh weight of bulb (22.42 g)
was recorded from without organic manure application when the variety was Faridpur
Vati (Table 2). The highest dry weight of bulb (43.67 g) was recorded with the
combinations of the variety BARI Piaz 4 and poultry manure application. On the other
hand, the lowest dry weight of bulb (15.67 g) was noticed from the variety Faridpur
Vati with control treatment (Table 2). Among the organic manures, poultry manure
gave significantly the maximum yield (13.70 t per ha) whereas the minimum yield
(11.80 t per ha) was recorded when no organic manure was applied (Table 2).
Cumulative growth performance by poultry manure increased the bulb diameter of
onion which ultimately increased the total yield, Magdi et.al.(2009) also reported the
higher bulb yield count from chicken manure compare to animal manure.
Table 2. Combined effects of variety and organic manures on the growth and yield of onion.
Treatment Plant Number of Leaf Bulb Bulb Bulb fresh Bulb dry Yield
combinations height leaves/plant length Diameter thickness weight weight (t)/ha
(cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (gm) (gm)
V1M0 42.51 d 7.590 d 40.62 cd 4.250 d 3.980 bc 22.85 f 15.67 g 12.48 f
V1M1 51.28 a 8.260 a 46.32 a 5.170 a 3.130 e 49.00 a 43.67 a 14.72 a
V1M2 50.39 a 7.750 cd 44.02 b 4.960 ab 3.730 cd 41.87 c 37.33 c 13.82 c
V1M3 50.00 ab 7.900 bc 41.87 c 4.870 ab 3.050 e 44.32 b 28.33 e 13.01 d
V1M4 50.21 a 8.000 b 41.50 cd 4.410 cd 3.450 d 39.75 c 39.45 b 14.07 b
V2M0 43.03 d 6.620 g 37.50 f 3.830 e 5.030 a 22.42 f 13.25 h 11.12 j
V2M1 49.37 ab 7.370 e 42.21 c 5.070 a 4.120 b 35.45 d 40.26 b 12.68 e
V2M2 45.03 cd 6.680 g 38.58 ef 4.530 cd 4.200 b 34.33 d 32.60 d 11.99 h
V2M3 46.24 c 7.000 f 39.99 de 4.370 cd 4.770 a 24.17 f 25.69 f 11.69 i
V2M4 47.47 bc 6.750 g 38.03 f 4.650 bc 4.870 a 26.56 e 36.26 c 12.38 g
Level of ** * * ** ** ** * **
significance
V1= BARI Piaz 4 and V2= Faridpur Vati
M0= Control (without organic manure) M1= Poultry manure @ 1.92 kg/ plot
M2= Cowdung @0.85 kg/ plot M3= Compost @1.44 kg/plot
M4= Mustard oil cake @1.11 kg/plot **= Significance at 1% level of probability

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