Onion (Allium cepa) is an important commercial
vegetable crop of India. It is grown predominantly in Kharif
and Rabi seasons in the country. The onion is grown under
0.76 million hectares with a production of 12.16 million tonnes
and productivity of 16.1 tonnes hectare-1 (NHB, 2010).
Productivity of this crop is quite low in the country, which
could be attributed to improper and inadequate nutrient
management, higher disease incidence, non availability of
critical inputs, particularly water, lack of adoption of new
improved production technologies, etc. (Saxena et al, 2008).
Over the last few years, emphasis has been laid on
enhancing productivity by applying irrigation water and
fertilizer. In India, it is a common practice to use surface
irrigation for an irrigated onion crop. Water productivity or
irrigation efficiency in surface irrigation is low (< 44%) due
to higher percolation, distribution and evaporation losses
(Locascio, 2005). Modern systems of irrigation such as
through drip and sprinklers ensure better irrigation and water
use efficiency. Sprinkler irrigation system has become
popular under undulating topography, particularly, for light
textured soils in a variety of horticultural crops. This system
is ideally suited for closely spaced vegetable crops as it
maintains optimum soil moisture for shallow rooted crops
like onion (Satyendra Kumar et al, 2006). For intensive and

Effect of microsprinkler fertigation on growth and yield of Rabi onion

M. Prabhakar, S.S. Hebbar and A.K. Nair
Division of Vegetable Crops

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research
Hessarghatta Lake Post, Bangalore-560089, India

E-mail:mpkar@iihr.ernet.in

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted during rabi 2005-2006 at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, to
study the performance of onion cv. Arka Niketan as influenced by microsprinkler fertigation using different sources and
levels of fertilizers. Results indicated that crop growth in terms of leaf production, plant height, radial and equatorial
diameter was not significantly influenced by the treatments. Fertigation treatments were superior for marketable bulb
yield as compared to soil application of fertilizer. Also bulb yield through soil application of fertilizer increased by
changing over from surface-irrigation to microsprinkler irrigation. However, bulb yield did not significantly decrease by
applying just 75% of the recommended NPK fertilizers, using common or water soluble fertilizers supplied through
fertigation. For achieving maximum yield, however, it is recommended to apply 100% recommended dose of fertilizers
through sprinkler fertigation using water soluble fertilizers.

Key words: Onion, microsprinkler, fertigation, growth and yield

economical crop production, and for achieving higher yield
with quality bulbs in onion, the best solution is fertigation, as
both water and fertilizers are delivered in time and in small
amounts to growing crops through micro irrigation system
(Neeraja et al, 1999). Fertigation also saves time and lobour,
making it profitable. Experiments have proved that this
system economizes use of fertilizer and water to a tune of
40-60 per cent. Information on combined use of fertilizers
with sprinklers is limited in a closely spaced crop like onion
in our country. Hence, a trial was conducted to study the
effect of various fertilizers applied through fertigation using
sprinklers in onion crop.

The experiment was conducted during rabi season
of 2005-2006 at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research,
Hessaraghatta Lake, Bangalore. Mean annual temperature
range of Hessaraghatta was 27-35oC and 14-20oC during
day and night with annual average rainfall of 850 mm. The
soil was well drained sandy loam with an initial organic
carbon (0.55%), pH (6.75), available N (160 kg/ha), available
P (88 kg/ha), available  K (280 kg/ha) and electrical
conductivity (0.23 dsm-1). The available water holding
capacity was 153 mm for one meter soil depth. Seedlings
(35 days old) of cultivar Arka Niketan were planted at a
spacing of 15 x 15 cm during the first week of November.

Short communication

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Vol. 6(1):66-68, 2011



67

The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design
with eleven treatments and three replications. A uniform
dose of fertilizer at the rate of 125:75:125 kg N, P

2
O

5
 and

K
2
O per hectare was applied through different treatments,

along with a basal application of Farm yard manure (25
tonnes hectare-1.) In soil application treatments (T

1
 and T

2
),

the entire amount of P, and half of N and K were given as
basal dose and the remaining half was side dressed 30 days
after transplanting. In N and K fertigation (T

3
 to T

7
)

treatments, all the P was applied to the soil as basal dose.
All fertigation treatments, were applied through a fertilizer
pump at weekly intervals starting three weeks after
transplanting, for twelve weeks. Micro sprinkler irrigation
was done on alternate days to replenish 90 per cent of the
pan evaporation losses. All other recommended practices
were followed for crop growth and plant protection.
Treatment details are given under Table1.

There were no significant differences among
treatments with reference to crop growth characters like
plant height, number of leaves and leaf dry weight per plant.
However, application of 100-0-100 per cent fertigation using
common fertilizers (T

7
) and 100-0-100 per cent fertigation

using specialty fertilizers (T
6
) recorded the highest (57.7cm)

and lowest (54.1cm) values respectively for plant height
(Table 2). Treatment T

6
 recorded the highest value (10.4)

for number of leaves per plant. Though application of 100
per cent NPK fertigation using common fertilizers (T

9
)

recorded lower number of leaves per plant (9.6), it recorded
higher leaf dry weight per plant (5.9 g) compared to other
treatments. This may be attributed to vigorous growth of
leaves available on the plant. The same treatment recorded
significantly higher (233.9 cm2) leaf area per plant than T

1
,

T
3
, T

10
 and T

11.
 Application of common fertilizers to soil

with furrow irrigation (T
1
) recorded the lowest (191cm2)

leaf area per plant.

Different treatment combinations did not differ
significantly with respect to radial and equatorial bulb
diameter among yield and yield attributing characters studied.
However, T

9 
 and T

2
 recorded higher values than other

treatments for radial  (6.59 cm) and equatorial (6.14 cm)
diameter, respectively. Application of 75% NPK fertigation
using specialty fertilizers (T

10
) recorded minimum radial (6.05

cm) and equatorial (5.76 cm) diameter. Treatment, T
9

recorded significantly higher total soluble solids (11.8oBrix)
than  most of the other treatments  except T

5
, T

6
, T

8
 and

T
10

, while, the minimum was recorded with T
1
 and T

2
 (10.7o

Brix). Similarly individual bulb weight  (84.1g) was
significantly higher in T

9
 compared to T

1
, T

2
, T

3
, T

4
 and T

11

treatments. Second highest bulb weight (82.4 g) was

Table 1. Treatment details for onion cultivar Arka Niketan under
fertigation

Treatment Treatment details

T
1

Application of common fertilizer to soil with furrow/bed
irrigation

T
2

Application of common fertilizer to soil  with
microsprinkler irrigation

T
3

50-0-50%  fertigation using Urea and Muriate of potash
T

4
50-0-50% fertigation using water soluble solid fertilizers
(Specialty fertilizers*)

T
5

50-0-50% fertigation using  specialty fertilizers
T

6
100-0-100% fertigation using  specialty fertilizers

T
7

100-0-100% fertigation using  common fertilizers
T

8
100% NPK fertigation using specialty fertilizers

T
9

100% NPK fertigation using  common fertilizers
T

1 0
 75% NPK fertigation using specialty fertilizers

T
1 1

75% NPK fertigation using  regular fertilizers

* Specialty fertilizers used were 19:19:19 NPK, potassium nitrate and
calcium nitrate

Table 2. Effect of  sprinkler fertigation on crop growth and yield in rabi onion

Treatment Plant No.of Leaf area Leaf dry Radial Equatorial TSS Bulb Marketable
height (cm) leaves per per plant weight diameter diameter (oBrix) weight (g) bulb yield

 plant (cm2) per plant (g) (cm) (cm) (t/ha)

T
1

55.5 9.7 191.0 5.3 6.27 5.92 10.7 74.7 25.8
T

2
57.2 9.8 211.3 5.4 6.21 6.14 10.7 77.3 29.5

T
3

56.6 9.7 210.0 5.6 6.08 5.82 10.8 78.3 30.3
T

4
57.3 9.7 212.9 5.5 6.24 6.11 11.0 76.7 31.1

T
5

55.0 9.4 218.9 5.5 6.33 5.98 11.2 81.2 31.8
T

6
54.1 10.4 223.8 5.7 6.14 5.92 11.3 82.4 33.8

T
7

57.7 9.9 225.9 5.7 6.43 6.05 11.0 82.0 32.7
T

8
56.3 10.0 226.5 5.8 6.08 5.79 11.6 81.8 32.2

T
9

54.2 9.6 233.9 5.9 6.59 6.08 11.8 84.1 33.9
T

1 0
54.7 9.6 209.4 5.4 6.05 5.76 11.6 80.4 31.5

T
1 1

54.8 9.7 205.9 5.1 6.21 5.79 11.0 78.3 30.6
S.Em± 1.4 0.3 7.9 0.2 0.7 0.5 0.2 1.9 1.5
CD (P=0.05) NS NS 22.7 NS NS NS 0.7 5.4 4.3

Microsprinkler fertigation in onion

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 6(1):66-68, 2011



68

recorded with T
6
, while T

1
 had lowest bulb weight of 74.7

g. There were significant differences for marketable bulb
yield among almost all fertigation treatments, recording
higher bulb yield compared to soil application treatment with
furrow irrigation treatment. Sprinkler irrigation also gave
higher bulb yield as compared to furrow irrigation. Treatment
T

9
 recorded significantly higher mean bulb weight (84.1g)

and higher bulb yield (33.9 t ha-1). This may probably be
due to higher leaf area, resulting in greater photosynthetic
surface, leading to higher carbo-hydrate synthesis and
translocation to the sink, coupled with marginally higher total
soluble sugars. Higher bulb yields obtained with fertigation
compared to soil application could result in saving  in fertilizer
(25 %) and higher nutrient productivity. This is in conformity
with earlier findings of Murali Krishnasamy et al (2006).

From the present study, it can be inferred that 100%
application of recommended dose of  nitrogenous,
phosphorus and potassium fertilizers (125:75:125 kg ha-1)
via fertigation through microsprinklers has a positive effect
on plant growth characters and improves marketable bulb
yield in onion. Hence, fertigation using microsprinklers can
be recommended for onion to attain improved growth and
marketable bulb yield in locations where it is traditionally
grown under irrigation.

REFERENCES

National Horticulture Board. 2010. Indian Horticulture
Database, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of
India

Locascio, S.J. 2005. Management of irrigation for
vegetables, past, present and future. Hort. Tech.,
15:477-481

Murali Krishnasamy,S., Veerabadram, V. Krishnsamy,. S.
Kumar and S. Sakthivela. 2006. Microsprinkler
irrigation and fertigation in onion (Allium cepa). 7th

International Micro-Irrigation Congress, 13-15
September, Kualalumpur, Malaysia

Neeraja, G, Reddy, K.M,.Reddy, I.P. and Reddy,Y.N. 1999.
Effect of irrigation and nitrogen on growth, yield and
yield attributes of Rabi onion (Allium cepa) in Andhra
Pradesh. Veg. Sci., 26:64-68

Satyendra Kumar, Ashwini Kumar and Goutam Mandal.
2006. Effect of irrigation scheduling and fertigation
on storability of onion (Allium cepa) under
microsprinkler irrigation regime.Ind. J. Agril Sci.,
76:401-404

Saxena, A.K, Sobaran Singh, Ajay Srivastava and Poonam
Gautam. 2008. Yield target approach under integrated
nutrient management for assessing fertilizer
requirements of onion in Mollisols of Uttarakhand.
Ind. J.  Hort., 65:302-306

(MS Received 04 November 2010, Revised 15 Febuary 2011)

Prabhakar et al

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 6(1):66-68, 2011