Onion is an important vegetable grown in our country. Conventional methods of threshing (trampled under tractor tyres, rubbing the umbels against hard surface using resilient material and beating with sticks) onion umbels result in damage to the seeds, tedious and costlier. These methods affected germination and vigour index of seeds too. Conventional method of seed cleaning after threshing of umbels was found to be time consuming and labour intensive. Hence, a study was carried to clean the umbels using precision seed cleaning equipments available in the market and the results are discussed in this article.
Umbels, germination, vigour index, threshing
