Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
The effect of nitrogen levels, plant spacings and bulb size on growth and seed characters of onion seed crop was investigated for two years. The number of seed stalks per plant increased with the use of big bulbs while the plant height increased with an application of nitrogen. The different levels of nitrogen, plant spacings and bulb sizes were ineffective in influencing the number of days taken from planting to the breaking of the scape and the number of days taken from planting to the initiation of flowering. However, the number of days taken from planting to the completion of 50 per cent flowering were hastened by the use of big bulbs. The application of nitrogen was effective in checking the incidence of the purple blotch disease. The seed yield per hectare increased with an application of 40 kg. nitrogen per hectare, close plant spacings of 20 cm and with the use of big size bulbs of 50 g. The seed weight was not affected by any of the factors studied.
