EFFECT OF NPKS AND PRE HARVEST NECK BENDING ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF ONION (Allium cepa L.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Horticultural Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, during the period from October 2013 to July 2014 to find out the effect of NPKS and pre harvest bending on the growth and yield of onion. The experiment consists of two factors. Factor A: four levels of NPKS - T 0 : N 0 P 0 K 0 P 0 (control), T 1 : N 60 P 25 K 50 S 15 ; T 2 ii : N 120 (kg/ha), respectively and Factor B: two levels of bending - B 0 P 50 K 75 S 20 ; T 3 : N 180 : No bending/ control and B 1 : Pre harvest neck bending. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with three replications. Results showed that highest yield of onion (24.06 t) was found from T 2 treatment and lowest yield (11.21 t) was found from T 0 treatment. For pre harvest neck bending, B 1 gave highest yield (18.55 t) and B 0 gave lowest yield (16.36 t) of onion bulb. The combined effect of NPKS and pre harvest neck bending, highest yield (25.63 t) was found from T 2 B 1 and lowest yield (10.83 t) was found from T 0 B 0 treatment combination. Calculating benefit cost ratio N 120 P 50 K 75 S 20 kg/ha with pre harvest neck bending gave the highest economic return (2.90) compared with rest of the treatment combinations. So, 120 kg Nitrogen, 50 kg phosphorus, 75 kg potassium and 20 kg sulphur with pre harvest neck bending gave highest growth, yield and quality of onion bulb.