Evaluating the suitability of planting position of multiplier onion bulb for mechanized planting during Kharif and Rabi season

Aggregatum or multiplier type onion is grown extensively in Southern states of India, which is
propagated through bulbs. The production of small onion is 12-16 tonnes/ha in a duration of 70
to 90 days. Presently Aggregatum onion manually planting the root portion oriented downwards
as pressed in to irrigated field on ridge and furrows system. Recent days farmers are shifting to
raised bed method of cultivation to adopt micro irrigation system. Manual planting of onion bulb
is highly labour intensive due to the close plant geometry among the vegetable crops. Generally,
about 80-100man days are required to plant one hectare of onion at a spacing of 15 cm with row
to row and plant to plant spacing of 10 cm. Hence development of onion bulb planter is required
and in case of mechanical planter, there is a possibility of four planting position of onion bulbs.
Hence, an experiment was carried at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru
to evaluating the suitability of planting position of multiplier onion bulb for mechanized planting
during Kharif and Rabi season. A raised bed of 47 m length and 0.9 m width was formed
manually, and onion bulbs were planted with row to row spacing of 15 cm and plant to plant
spacing of 10 cm. The experiment has four treatments viz., a) root portion down, b) root portion
up, c) horizontal and d) inclined with 5 replications and a randomized block design was imposed.
The growth parameters namely i) germination percentage at 7th and 15th DAP (Days after
planting), ii) Plant height 15th and 30th DAP and yield were observed. The results were
statistically analyzed. It was observed that the growth parameters were on par in all the three
treatments (a, c and d) except in treatment (b).