Abscisic acid treatment for delaying bulb sprouting in short day onion

Enhancement of shelf-life is imperative to stabilize the supply chain of onion when the price fluctuations are due to short of supply amid huge postharvest losses. Sprouting has been a major hurdle to alleviate postharvest losses. The screening of available onion cultivars for abscisic acid (ABA), a growth hormone associated with sprouting could be helpful to categories them for storability potential. Twenty two different varieties were analyzed for initial ABA contents and their sprouting up to five months. Results revealed that the highest ABA content was recorded in Bima Red (80.61 ng/g) followed by Phule Safed (60.63 ng/g). Whereas, the lowest ABA contents were observed in Palam Lohit (9.84 ng/g), followed by Agrifound Rose (11.39 ng/g). Despite, comparatively lower ABA contents, sprouting was not observed in Bhima Kiran, N-2-4-1 and Pusa Madhvi up to five months. It was observed that, the dormancy of onion during storage could not be attributed to the initial ABA content.