Onion (Allium cepa L.), an important member of the genus Allium of the family Alliaceae, is believed to have originated in Uzbekistan. India ranks second in the world in area and production after China, and, third in export after the Netherlands and Spain. It is an important vegetable crop of our country under an area of 4.81 lakh hectares, producing 54.61 lakh tonnes of bulbs both for local consumption and export. India exported 3,33,349 tonnes valued at Rs.20,216 lakh (Singh, 2005). Onion bulbs are rich in phosphorus, calcium, carbohydrates and Vitamin C. Nursery is a place where seedlings are grown to be transplanted in the field. In India, the traditional method of nursery management under open-field condition is completely dependent on vagaries of nature and about 15- 20 % seedlings are damaged. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize the nursery raising technique in a scientific way to obtain healthy and vigorous seedling for the growers. In raising a vegetable nursery, rooting and growth media are the most important factors for growth and development of seedlings and the root. But, under mostly open-field conditions, farmers use only soil and FYM in an inadequate proportion. In place of FYM several other organic manures like vermicompost, poultry manure, NADEP compost etc., are available which could be utilized for production of better and healthy seedlings. These manures are easily available, retain sufficient water and air and allow sufficient drainage, thus, providing a congenial rhizosphere for better root- J. Hort. Sci. Vol. 2 (2): 162-163, 2007 Effect of various nursery media on onion seedlings development Devi Singh and Vijay Bahadur Department of Horticulture Allahabad Agricultural Institute - Deemed University Allahabad-211007, India E-mail: vijay_rajwade@yahoo.com ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted to standardize the nursery raising technique for onion at the Horticulture Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Allahabad Agricultural Institute - Deemed University, Allahabad, during 2005-2006. The treatments comprised combinations of soil, sand, FYM and vermicompost. Altogether, 14 treatments were applied in a randomized block design with three replications. Hundred percent germination was found with a combination of soil, sand and FYM in proportions of 2:1:2 & 2:2:1, and, 1:1:1 & 2:2:1 Soil:Sand:Vermicompost. Among all the treatments, the combination of soil 2 parts, sand 1 part and FYM 2 parts, significantly influenced growth and health of seedlings and produced the maximum seedling height (11.42 cm), stem diameter (0.33 cm), root length (10.86 cm), shoot fresh weight (6.96 g), root fresh weight (3.22 g), total seedling fresh weight (10.18 g), shoot dry weight (3.95 g), root dry weight (1.53 g) and total seedling dry weight (5.48g). Highest benefit:cost ratio of 3.72 was also seen in this treatment combination. Key words: Onion, vermicompost, FYM, nursery, seedlings growth. Moreover, these nursery media improve water holding capacity of the soil under open-field conditions. With this in view sand, soil, FYM and vermicompost were used in this investigation in various proportions to accomplish better growth and seedling production in onion. The experiment was conducted at the Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Allahabad Agricultural Institute-Deemed University, Allahabad (U.P.), during the rabi season of 2005. Onion variety Pusa Red was used in the experiment. Fourteen treatments comprising soil, sand, FYM (Farm Yard Manure) and VC (Vermicompost) were replicated three times. The treatment combinations were T 1 : Soil + sand + FYM (1:1:1), T 2 : Soil + sand + FYM (1:1:2), T 3 : Soil + sand + FYM (1:2:1), T 4 : Soil + sand + FYM (1:2:2), T 5 : Soil + sand + FYM (2:1:1), T 6 : Soil + sand + FYM (2:1:2), T 7 : Soil + sand + FYM (2:2:1),T 8 : Soil + sand + VC (1:1:1), T 9 : Soil + sand + VC (1:1:2),T 10 : Soil + sand + VC (1:2:1), T 11 : Soil + sand + VC (1:2:2), T 12 : Soil + sand + VC (2:2:1), T 13 : Soil + sand + VC (2:1:2) and T 14 : Soil + sand + VC (2:2:1). The treatments were laid out in a randomized block design with a nursery plot size 1m x 1 m. Observations were recorded on ten randomly selected plants from each plot for various characters, viz., percent germination at 8, 9, 10 and 11 days after sowing (DAS), seedling height (at 15, 35 and 45 DAS), stem diameter, seedling fresh and dry weight, root and shoot fresh and dry weights at 45 DAS. Short communication 162 163 Table 1. Influence of various nursery media on raising onion seedlings Treatment % Seedling Stem Root Shoot Root fresh Total Shoot Root Total germination height (cm) diameter length fresh weight seedlings dry dry seedlings at 10 DAS (cm) (cm) weight (g) (g) fresh weight (g) weight (g) weight (g) dry weight (g) T 1 70.00 7.09 0.15 7.03 2.86 1.85 4.71 0.49 0.71 1.65 T 2 84.67 8.18 0.18 7.83 3.00 1.89 4.89 1.12 0.83 1.95 T 3 84.33 7.91 0.18 7.61 3.00 1.88 4.88 1.06 0.72 1.78 T 4 87.67 8.50 0.20 8.13 3.27 2.16 5.44 1.30 0.93 2.23 T 5 86.00 8.26 0.19 8.03 3.11 2.05 5.16 1.20 0.84 2.04 T 6 100.00 11.42 0.33 10.86 6.96 3.22 10.18 3.95 1.53 5.48 T 7 100.00 11.22 0.31 10.70 6.55 3.05 9.60 3.57 1.50 5.07 T 8 100.00 10.32 0.26 10.39 4.74 2.77 7.51 2.39 1.44 3.83 T 9 99.33 9.35 0.23 10.02 4.44 2.61 7.05 1.97 1.24 3.21 T 10 96.00 8.62 0.21 9.81 3.72 2.28 5.99 1.51 1.04 2.55 T 11 99.00 9.14 0.22 9.87 3.89 2.38 6.27 1.52 1.22 2.73 T 12 99.00 9.16 0.23 9.88 4.27 2.44 6.71 1.90 1.22 3.12 T 13 92.67 8.55 0.21 9.36 3.61 2.22 5.82 1.45 0.99 2.44 T 14 100.00 9.56 0.24 10.25 4.44 2.66 7.10 2.16 1.35 3.52 F-Test S S S S S S S S S S SEd + 1.95 0.22 0.02 0.15 0.09 0.06 0.09 0.06 0.03 0.07 CD (P=0.05) 4.01 0.45 0.03 0.32 0.18 0.12 0.19 0.12 0.07 0.15 Note: Parameters were recorded at 45 days after sowing except germination percentage Table 2. Economics of various treatments imposed Treatment Cost of Gross Net profit Cost: Benefit cultivation returns (Rs/ha) ratio of raising (Rs.) seedlings for 1 ha(Rs) T 1 12600 35000 22400 1:2.77 T 2 13160 42250 29090 1:3.21 T 3 13160 42100 28940 1:3.19 T 4 13720 43800 30080 1:3.19 T 5 12880 43000 30120 1:3.30 T 6 13440 50000 36560 1:3.72 T 7 13440 49900 36460 1:3.71 T 8 14280 49850 35570 1:3.49 T 9 16520 49500 32980 1:2.99 T 10 14840 48000 33160 1:3.23 T 11 17080 49500 32420 1:2.89 T 12 14280 49450 35170 1:3.46 T 13 16800 46000 29200 1:2.73 T 14 15120 49800 34680 1:3.29 All the treatments showed significant differences for traits like germination percentage, seedling height, seedling fresh and dry weight , stem diameter, root length, fresh and dry weights of roots and shoots (Table 1). Among the various nursery media, the best performance obtained with application of soil 2 part + sand 1 part + FYM 2 part was found to be significantly superior to the other treatments. This could be due to availability of sufficient nutrient content in FYM. FYM, in ideal combination with soil and sand, created healthy rhizosphere adequate in physico-chemical and biological properties. This combination may have resulted in better growth and seedling production in onion. Similar findings were also reported by Booij et al (1985), Ponwell et al (1991), Baruah (1997), Boff et al (2005) and Tathan (1997). The highest net return of Rs.36560 / 500 m2 and cost: benefit of 1:3:72 was obtained with application of 2 parts soil + 1 part sand + 2 parts FYM, followed by 2 part soil + 2 part sand + 1 part FYM with a net return of Rs. 36460 / 500 m2 and cost: benefit ratio of 1:3.71(Table 2). This is also in agreement with the work of Awghad et al (1994) in onion. REFERENCES Awghad, P. R., Bawanthade, T. L., Hedan, G. B., Rithe, S. R. and Nawlakhe, S. M. 1994. Economics of raising onion nursery in Daryapur Tehsil of Amaravati district. J. Soils and Crops, 4: 38-40 Baruah, C. 1997. Winter protection of container grown solanaceae crops. Ind. J. Hortl. Sci., 24: 265-267 Boff, P., Debarba, J. F., Silua, E. and Werner, H. 2005. Quality and health of onion seedlings by adding thermophilic compost. Horticultura – Brasiliera, 23: 875-880 Booij, R., Mantel, P. and Schroon, G. 1985. A plant with a different potting plugs. Groenten in Fruit, 40: 62-63 Ponwell, A. A., Thornton, J. M. and Mitchell, J. A. 1991. Vigour differences in brassica seedlings and their significance to emergence and seeding variability. J. Agril. Sci., 116: 369-373 Singh, N. P. 2005. Basic concept of vegetable science. Scientific Publishing Distribution Coy p. 68 Tathan, M. 1997. Nursery practices on growth of hybrid tomato seedlings. Annual Report, Vegetable Research, All India Coordinated Vegetable Improvement Project, p 38 Nursery media in onion seedling growth (MS Received 13 November 2006, Revised 23 August 2007) J. Hort. Sci. Vol. 2 (2): 162-163, 2007