The onion yields and water use efficiency were higher with less water stress and reduced with increase in water stress. The 40% deficit water at vegetative stage, bulb development stage and bulb enlargement stage reduced onion yield upto 30.16%, 29.61% and 15.07% respectively. A deficit irrigation strategy of supplying water at 40% water stress during bulb enlargement stage did not significantly reduced onion yield. The experiment revealed that, the water stress imposed in early growing season significantly reduced the yield. Therefore, adequate irrigation has to be provided at early crop growth stages for higher yields. A water deficit imposed late stage, marginally affected the yield. Hence vegetative and bulb development stages of onion are more sensitive.
Onion, deficit irrigation, post harvest attributes, crop water use
