Question

Effect of different levels of nitrogen on growth and yield of three onion varieties

Answer 1

Three different Onion varieties i.e. Faisalabad Early, Phulkara and Shah Alam were compared at different NPK levels. Varieties, NPK levels and their interaction significantly affected plant height, leaf length, number of leaves per plant bulb diameter, marketable yield and total yield per hectare. Shah Alam variety at the fertilizer level of 150:100:50 NPK kg ha-1gave the best results with regard to number of leaves per plant (17.57), bulb survival (93.53%), bulb diameter (7.40 cm), marketable yield (3.25 kg plot-1), culls percentage (5.24%) and total yield (13.20 t ha-1), while Phulkara variety gave the best results with regard to plant height (56.17 cm) and leaf length (50.27cm) under the same fertilizer level. However, the highest benefit cost ratio of 2.55 was obtained by Shah Alam at the fertilizer level of 120:50:50 NPK kg ha-1 as this treatment was not significantly different from that of 150:100:50 NPK kg ha-1. So the highest net return was obtained at 120:50:50 NPK kg ha-1.