Onion (Allium cepa L.) belongs to the Alliaceae family and has origin in central Asia. It is commercially by far the most important crop as compared to other spice bulb crops. The annual average world production of onion is estimated at around 72 million metric tonnes. Maharashtra is leading onion growing state accounting 415 thousands hectare area with 4904 thousands million tones production and 11.82 tonnes per hectare productivity (Anon. 2011). Successful onion production depends on the selection of varieties that are adapted to different conditions imposed by specific environment. Kharif onion is an off-season cultivation of the crop for which standardization of varieties is of immense utility. Since little information is available about rainy season onions, it was felt imperative to find out suitable varieties for its successful cultivation under Akola condition as a basic step towards its popularization. Hence, the present experiment was conducted to study the Performance of red onion varieties in kharif season under Akola conditions, during kharif season in order to achieve this objective.

The investigation was carried out at Main garden, Department of Horticulture, Dr. PDKV, Akola, during the kharif season of 2012-13. Eight varieties of red onion collected from various sources were tested in a randomized block design with three replications. Eight weeks old healthy seedlings of each variety were transplanted on flat beds at a spacing of 15 × 10 cm in a plot of 2.40 × 1.30 m. Recommended cultural practices were followed to raise the crops successfully. Five plants were selected at random in each plot to record the observations on height of plant (cm), leaves per plant, days required for maturity, bolting percentage (%), neck thickness of bulb (cm), weight of fresh bulb and cured bulb (gm), diameter of bulb (cm), number of marketable bulbs, marketable bulb yield per plot (kg), marketable bulb yield per hectare (q), total yield per plot (kg), total yield per hectare (q), total soluble solids (0Brix) and splitting percentage (%). The mean data were subjected to statistically analyzed as per the methods suggested by Panse et al. [1].

The present investigation revealed that the significant variation among the eight red onion varieties in kharif season under Akola conditions, which indicated the presence of significant genetic variability for all the traits and are shown in Table 1a. The plant height was finally recorded at 90 DAT (Days after transplanting), showed maximum plant height (66.87 cm) in the variety N-53 which was at par with Baswant-780 (65.67 cm), Bhima Super (65.27 cm), Bhima Red (62.67 cm) and Pune Red (61.87 cm), whereas the minimum plant height was recorded by Bhima Raj (57.87 cm). Similarly at 90 DAT Bhima Red recorded maximum (14.33) number of leaves which was at par with Phule Samarth (14.20), Bhima Super (13.67), N-53 (13.40), and Bhima Raj (13.20). Whereas, variety Pune Red recorded minimum (12.33) number of leaves per plant. Similar results were reported by Mohanty et al. [2], Sarada et al. [3], Dwivedi et al. [4] under different climatic conditions with different varieties.

Table 1a: Growth, yield and yield contributing and quality characters as Influenced by the different red onion varieties in kharif season. under Akola conditions.

The Baswant-780 (100.33) required minimum days for maturity which was at par with Agrifound Dark Red (103.00) and N-53 (104.67), While Bhima Raj (120.67) recorded maximum days. These differences in maturity period of bulb were observed due to the different genetic constitution of onion varieties. Patil et al. [5] and Ijoyah et al. [6] also reported the influence of onion varieties on days required for maturity.

The variety Bhima Red recorded minimum (00%) bolting of bulb which was found to be at par with variety Bhima Super (0.33%), Bhima Raj (0.67%) and Agrifound Dark Red (1.00%), whereas maximum (2.33%) bolting of bulb was recorded in the variety N-53. It may be due high temperature prevalence throughout the crop period and varietal character. These results are in conformity with the findings of Warade et al. [7] and Khar Anil et al. [8].

The variety Pune Red recorded minimum (0.87 cm) neck thickness which was at par with N-53 (0.93 cm), Bhima Super (0.97 cm) and Baswant-780 (1.03 cm). However, Agrifound Dark Red recorded the maximum neck thickness (1.23 cm) which was at par with Bhima Red (1.17 cm). The neck thickness of the bulb correlated with diameter, number of leaves, thus increase in size exerts similar increase in neck thickness. These differences in the neck thickness are due to the different varietal characters of onion. These results are in close agreement with the findings of Mohanty et al. [2] and Dewangan et al. [4].

The maximum average fresh weight of bulb (110.95 gm) and cured weight of bulb (99.53 gm) were recorded with variety Bhima Red (V8), while the variety Phule Samarth at par for fresh bulb (106.28 gm) and for cured bulb (95.30 gm) whereas, variety Pune Red recorded minimum fresh weight of bulb (80.79 gm) and cured weight of bulb (70.10 gm). Similar results were reported by Yadwinder S, et al. [9] and Sarada et al. [3]. They observed similar trend in different varieties at different locations.

The Variety Bhima Red (V8) recorded significantly maximum diameter of bulb (6.61 cm), number of marketable bulbs (103.8), marketable yield per plot (6.9 kg) and marketable yield per hectare (328.57 quintal/ha).while the variety at par for diameter of bulb Phule Samarth (6.36 cm) and Bhima Raj (6.15 cm), for number of marketable bulbs Baswant-780 (93.13), Bhima Raj (90.24), Agrifound Dark Red (89.04) and Bhima Super (86.6), for marketable yield per plot Bhima Raj (6.27 kg) and Bhima Super (5.67 kg) and for marketable yield per hectare Bhima Raj (298.41 quintal/ha) and Bhima Super (269.83 quintal/ha) Whereas, minimum diameter of bulb recorded by Agrifound Dark Red (5.31 cm), while Phule Samarth recorded less number of marketable bulbs (64.76), marketable yield per plot (4.27 kg) and marketable yield per hectare (203.17 quintal/ha). The increase in yield could also be due to plant height, leaf number, chlorophyll content, bulb diameter, weight of bulb ultimately enhanced the yield. Similar results were reported by Mohanty et al. [2], Khar Anil et al. [8], Sarada et al. [3], Yadav et al. [10] and Dwivedi et al. [4] under different climatic conditions with different varieties.

Data presented in Table 1b revealed that, total soluble solids of onion bulb was significantly influenced due to different onion varieties. Significantly maximum TSS (11.47 0Brix) was recorded in variety Agrifound Dark which was at par with variety Phule Samarth (10.5 0Brix). Whereas, the minimum TSS (8.87 0Brix) was observed in the variety Pune Red. The increased total soluble solids was due to enhanced physiological activity and availability of nutrients and development of strong source and sink relationship. These results are in conformity with findings of Saimbhi et al. [11], Yadav et al. [10] and Dewangan et al. [12].

Table 1b: Growth, yield and yield contributing and quality characters as Influenced by the different red onion varieties in kharif season. under Akola conditions.

In respect to splitting percentage, variety Bhima Red recorded minimum (0.33%) splitting of bulb which was found to be at par with variety Bhima Raj (0.67%), Agrifound Dark Red (1.00%), Bhima Super (1.33%) and Baswant-780 (1.67%). Whereas, maximum (2.67%) splitting percentage of bulb was recorded in the variety Phule Samarth. These results are in conformity with the findings of Jadhav et al. [13] and Soni et al. [14].