International Journal of Innovative Horticulture

About forty five white onion varieties including few exotic ones suitable for short day conditions were evaluated during rabi (winter) season under water deficient conditions. Of these, a few cultivars (Agrifound white, JV 11, JV12 and JV 16) were shortlisted for detailed investigation. Subsequently, extensive field trials on these four cultivars revealed that JV 12 exhibited desirable characters such as vigorous growth, free from bolting during bulb production, high yielding and tolerant to purple blotch (Alternaria porri) infection. In addition, it also exhibited good transport resistance, long dormancy, good colour and pungency even after processing as well as reasonable shelf life (3–4 months at ambient temp.) Even though the cultivar (JV 12) is suitable for winter season; the productivity has been further increased manifold employing drip irrigation system (DIS). Besides increased yield and quality, uniform maturity, weed reduction, dis technology has significantly improved water and fertilizer use efficiency. The results indicate that, during the entire cultivation period of onion (110 days), water use efficiency through drip ranged from 68.6–96.6% more when compared to flood. From the present study it is evident that in order to produce 1 kg of onion, 167 litres of water is required in the case of drip irrigation and 303 litres is required through flood, which is a direct water saving of 82.58%. Average onion yields were 35.68 MT/ha and 27.47 MT/ha in the case of drip and flood respectively. Some of these issues are discussed at length in this paper.