Agric. sci. dev., Vol(4), No (2), February, 2015. pp.

19-21

TI Journals

ISSN:

Agriculture Science Developments

2306-7527

www.tijournals.com

Copyright 2015. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

Influence of Planting Date on Some Morphological Characteristic and

Seed Production in Onion (Allium cepa L.) Cultivars
Sedigheh Mehri*
M.S.c. student, Faculty of Agriculture and natural resources, Department of Horticulture, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.

Bahram Rostam Forodi

Assistant professor, Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran.

Abdol-Karim Kashi
Professor, Faculty of Agriculture and natural resources, Department of Horticulture, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
*Corresponding author: s.mehr30@gmail.com

Keywords

Abstract

Onion
Planting date
Seed Production
Morphological Characteristics

In order to evaluate the effects of planting date on some morphological characters and seed production of
Onion Cultivars such as Texas Early Grano 502 and Ghermez Iranshahr (Iranian Cultivar), an experiment
was conducted in Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran in 2012-2013. The experiment was
arranged as split plot based on randomized complete block design in three replications. The four planting
dates were assigned to main plots: P1:22nd September, P2: 6th October, P3: 21st October and P4: 5th
November. Two cultivars were randomizes in sub plots. Results of analysis of variance showed that the
number of leaves/plant, plant height, number of flowering stalk/plant, number of capsule/umbel, number of
seed/capsule and number of umbels/plant were significantly affected by planting date. The cultivars had
significant effects to all the characters. Also the interaction between planting dates and cultivars had
significant effect on only for the number of leaves/plant and total seed yield. At this study, the highest seed
yield (2166.4 kg/ha) was obtained from Texas Early Grano 502 planted on 22nd September and the lowest
seed yield (407.9 kg/ha) was obtained from Ghermez Iranshahr planted on 22nd September. However,
highest seed yield for Ghermez Iranshahr (1005.8 kg/ha) obtained on 6th October.

1. Introduction
Onion (Allium cepa L., 2n=16) is a bulb crop, belonging to the family Alliaceae which central Asia is regarded as a center of domestication [7].
It is a cross-pollinated and biennial short type vegetable and most of the important spice as well as vegetable crops throughout the world [7].
This vegetable crop grown in Iran for local consumption or for export in fresh or dried condition. It has good return and income for farm ers,
also it provides hard currency for local income. Out of 15 vegetables listed by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), onion falls second
only to tomato in terms of total annual world production [13]. Onion production sometimes hampers due to scarcity of seed. A lot of work has
been conducted on onion bulb production but a little information is available on onion seed production [5].
Planting time is one of the most important factors that greatly influence the growth and yield of onion [2,6]. Also, planting date is important
factor affects onion seeds production and quality especially with current climate changes that affect the productivity of various agricultural crops
[8, 11]. Mondal [11] considered last week of October as the best planting time for the highest yield and best quality onion seeds. In study
conducted by Khodadadi [9] in Iran compared between two planting date mid September and mid November, planting in mid-September had the
highest seed yield in onion Gholi Ghese variety. Khodadadi [9] revealed that planting date had significant effect on characters only such as
number of the plant emergence, the final height of plant and seed yield per hectar. Mohamedali and Nouri [10] found that the optimum planting
dates were mid-October to mid-November and high significant onion seed yield were obtained from sowing early in the winter season
(November). On the other hand, the decreased in seed production with delayed planting was not significant, the reduction in seed production as
a result of late sowing was mainly a result of increased flower abortion. Also, Anisuzzaman et al. [5] showed that planting dates effects on
growth characters of onion development and seed production.
This study was conducted for seed production of onion genotypes cultivated in southern areas of Iran and determines the effect of planting date
on some of morphological characters on a local Iranian onion genotype (Ghermez Iranshahr) in compare to a commercial cultivar (Texas Early
Grano 502) of onion under Karaj conditions.

2. Methodology
This study was conducted at Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran (longitude 51o 36/ E, latitude 35o 48/ N, altitude 1300 m above
sea level) during 2012-2013 cropping seasons. The soil is clay loamy with pH of 7.85 and 0.76 electric conductivity (d s m-1). The mean
maximum and mean minimum temperature during growing season was 21.48C and 9.09C, respectively. The experiment was arranged as split
plot on the basis of randomized complete block design in three replications. Planting time (P1, P2, P3 and P4 which considered as 22nd
September, 6th October, 21st October and 5th November respectively) in main plots and two short day cultivars (C1:Texas Early Grano 502, and
C2:Ghermez Iranshahr local cultivar) in sub plots. The mother bulbs (with 6-8 cm diameter) planted by hand, each plots consisted of 4 rows,
each 3 m long and 0.6 m wide. Mother bulbs were planted 15 cm apart on rows. The data regarding plant height, number of leaves/plant, number
of flowering stalk, number of umbel/plant, number of capsule/umbel, number of seed/capsule, seed yield/umbel, and seed yield/hectare were
recorded from fifteen plants from each plot were selected randomly and then averaged. The umbels were considered to be ready for harvest,
when about 20-30% of the fruit had black seed exposed. Harvested umbels were dried, threshed manually and seed yield/plots were recorded
and covered into kg ha-1 for yield/hectare. For analysis of variance using the GLM procedure of SAS package (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, USA,
1999). Mean separation was made using Duncans multiple range tests when F test was significant at the 0.05 level or less.

Sedigheh Mehri *, Bahram Rostam Forodi, Abdol-Karim Kashi

20

Agriculture Science Developments Vol(4), No (2), February, 2015.

3. Results and discussion

Analysis of variance showed that the effect of planting date had significant differences (0.01) for the number of leaves/plant, plant height,
number of flowering stalk number of umbels/plant (Table1). Effect of planting date for number of capsule/umbel, number of seed/capsule and
seed yield/umbel were significant (0.05) and for total seed yield was not significant (Table1). Based on mean comparison among planting dates,
the highest number of leaves/plant, plant height, number of flowering stalk and number of umbel /plant was obtained with early planting date on
22nd September which had significant differences with others (Table2). Mean while the value was gradually decreases by delaying planting date
until 5th November (Table2). Abdel El-Latif [1] pointed out the highest significant stalk flower number/plant, umbel number/plant and umbel
diameter was obtained with early planting on mid November. Mean while the lowest significant value were recorded with delaying planting date
to mid of January. Mostafa [12] stated that late planting on January associated with decreased number of seed flower stalk/plant.
The lowest number of capsule/umbel, number of seed/capsule, seed yield/umbel was obtained on 22nd September which increases until 21st
October and again decreased on 5th November (Table2). In this respect these increases is due to decreases in number of stem flowering and
increases in umbel diameter. The decreases shown on 5th November for mentioned traits was subjected to adverse high temperature during JulyAugust unfavorable for pollination, seed setting and development. Mostafa [12] indicated that high temperature during March-May unfavorable
for seed setting and development.
Analysis indicated that significant differences (0.01) between cultivars in the terms of all traits (Table1). Based on means comparison Texas
Early Grano 502 had higher capsule number/umbel, plant height, seed number/capsule, seed yield/umbel and total seed yield than Ghermez
Iranshahr but number of leaves/plant, number of flowering stalk/plant and number of umbel/plant in Ghermez Iranshahr was higher than Texas
Early Grano (Table2). The interaction between planting date and cultivars only for the number of leaves/plant and total seed yield was
significant (0.01) (Table1).
Table 1. Analysis of variance for some morphological characters and seed production of onion cultivar at different planting dates
Mean Square
S.O.V

df

Plant
height

Number of
leaves/ plant

Replication
Planting dates (P)
E(a)
Cultivar (C)
P*C
E(b)
CV (%)

2
3
6
1
3
8

11.93
112.84**
3.76
25.56**
4.54ns
5.13
4.22

2.78
485.03**
10.54
2295.36**
308.47**
23.19
10.84

Number of
flowering stalk/
plant
1.57
25.88**
0.89
67.03**
1.02ns
1.11
13.54

Number of
umbel/ plant
0.33
11.16**
0.30
42.77**
1.04ns
0.46
10.20

Number of
capsule/
umbel
758.33
12413.59*
566.34
214416.72**
1200.83ns
2413.63
15.80

Number of
seed/capsule

Seed
yield/umbel

Total seed
yield

0.04
0.19*
0.008
6.03**
0.07ns
0.04
8.02

0.14
0.73*
0.09
26.67**
0.04ns
0.13
12.53

39600.80
59459.45ns
34567.55
8304585.61**
384838.15**
27289.55
12.99

ns, * and **: Non significant, significant at 5% and 1% levels of probability, respectively.

Based on mean comparison (Table2) in both cultivars, the highest numbers of leaves/plant were obtained on early planting date in beginning of
autumn when the weather is still warm. Vegetative growth reduces with decrease in temperature. At the last two planting dates the beginning of
vegetative growth in two cultivars began at the end of winter and beginning of the spring of next year. This event coincided with appearance of
flowering stalk that leads the vegetative growth will be lower than early planting dates. Ghermez Iranshahr has more centers (buds) in the bulbs
and sprouts which leads to increase in vegetative growth than Texas Early Grano 502. Result showed that in Ghermez Iranshahr the decrease
trend of leave number/plant is higher than Texas Early Grano 502 (Table2). Anisuzzaman et al. [5] stated that in Bangladesh with its tropical
climate condition, plant heights and number of leaves/plant were the highest on 21st November compare to other planting date while in Karaj
with its cool temperate zone the perfect planting date for vegetative growth was on 22nd September.
In Texas Early Grano 502 the highest total seed yield obtained on earliest planting date (22nd September) which decreases by delaying planting
date until 5th November (Table2). In this respect these decrease was due to decrease in stem flower number. Total seed yield in Ghermez
Iranshahr should be in the same way but due to its high sensitivity to bolting, this cultivar in early planting date produced stem flower in winter
which damaged by low temperature. Alamzadeh and Mamghani [3] tested some foreign and Iranian cultivars were planted in Iran had different
sensitivity to bolting. The last two planting date in Germez Iranshahr produced stem flower on March- April in which the temperature was
suitable and total seed yield was obtained on 21st October. Aminpour and Mortazavibak [4] stated that Texas Early Grano 502 cultivar in Isfahan
had the highest number of umbel (sq.m.) and the highest seed yield (1400 kg/ha) on 22nd September among other planting date. El-Helaly and
Karam [8] observed in their study in Egypt for Giza 20 cultivar, the highest number of seed stalk/plant, umbel/plant, seed yield/plant and total
seed yield (kg/fed) were on 15th November and the lowest value of this traits were obtained by delaying of planting date (15th January).
Khadadadi [9] pointed out, mid September had a highest seed yield on Gholi Ghese.
Table 2. Means of morphological traits and seed yield of cultivars, planting dates and interaction between of these treatments
Plant height
(cm)

Number of
leaves/ plant

Number of
flowering stalk/
plant

Number of
umbel/
plant

Texas early Grano 502

43.10a

34.63b

6.11b

Ghermez Iranshahr

41.04b

54.19a

9.45a

22 September
6 October
21 October
5 November
22 September
6 October
21 October
5 November
22 September
6 October
21 October
5 November

47.63a
43.29b
39.37c
37.98c
48.09a
44.79ab
39.53c
39.99c
47.17a
41.79bc
39.22cd
35.97d

54.16a
49.51b
39.36c
34.61d
39.35bc
32.67c
33.85c
32.64c
68.96a
66.34a
44.86b
36.59bc

10.43a
8.34b
6.64c
5.71c
8.36bc
6.82c
4.71d
4.55d
12.50a
9.86b
8.57bc
6.87c

Treatment
Cultivar
Planting
date
Texas
early
Grano
Iranian
cultivar

Means with similar letters in each column are not significant difference at 5% level of probability.

Number of
capsule/
umbel

Number of
seed/capsule

Seed
yield/umbel
(gr)

Total seed
yield(kg/ha)

5.36b

405.30a

3.22a

3.95a

1859.38a

8.03a

216.26b

2.22b

1.84b

682.90b

8.33a
7.26b
5.91c
5.29c
7.43bcd
6.10d
4.03e
3.90e
9.23a
8.43ab
7.79bc
6.68cd

285.70c
290.76b
362.54a
331.13b
370.31a
387.35a
455.24a
408.31a
147.09c
194.17bc
269.84b
253.95b

2.50c
2.67b
2.93a
2.79b
3.13a
3.13a
3.48a
3.17a
1.87c
2.22bc
2.38b
2.42b

2.50c
2.75bc
3.30a
3.05ab
3.63b
3.76ab
4.42a
4.01ab
1.37d
1.74cd
2.18c
2.08cd

1287.1a
1204.7a
1405.3a
1187.5a
2166.40a
1924.70ab
1804.80bc
1541.70c
407.90e
484.70e
1005.80d
833.20d

21

Influence of Planting Date on Some Morphological Characteristic and Seed Production in Onion (Allium cepa L.) Cultivars
Agriculture Science Developments Vol(4), No (2), February, 2015.

4. Conclusion
Planting dates is an important factor that affects onion seed production. According to the experiment results the best planting date for seed
production of Texas Early Grano 502 was on 22nd September until 6th October and for Germez Iranshahr was on 21st October until 5th
November.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]

Abdel El-Latif K.G., 1995. Effect of some agricultural treatments on onion seed production from sets. M.Sc. Thesis, Fac. Of Agri. Moshtohor, Zagazing
Univ. (Banha Branch) pp: 84.
Ahmad S.U., and Munshi S.K. 1995. Effect of different dates and methods of planting on the growth, bulb yield and storage of onion. Progress Agric
6(2): 109-116.
Alamzadeh Ansari N., and Mamghani R. 2008. Effect of screening of onion (Allium cepa L.). Ecotypes of southern Iran on bulb yield and bolting. Asian
Journal of Plant Sciences. pp: 1-4.
Aminpour R., and Mortazavibak A. 2003. Effect of planting date and intra-row spacing on seed yield and germination of onion (Allium cepa L.) cv. Texas
Eaely Grano 502. Journal of Pajouhash and Sazandegi 62: 64-69.
Anisuzzaman M., Ashrafuzzaman M., Ismail M.R., Uddin K., and Rahim M.A. 2009. Planting time and mulching effect on onion development and seed
production. African J Biotech 8: 412-416.
Badaruddin M., and Haque A. 1977. Effect of time of planting and spacing on the yield of onion (Allium cepa L.). Bangladesh Hort 5(2): 23-29.
Brewster J.L., 1994. Onions and other vegetable Allium. 1st Edn, CAB, International, Wallinford, UK., pp: 236.
El-Helaly M.A., and Karam S.S. 2012. Influence of planting date on the production and quality of onion seeds. Journal of Horticulture Science and
Ornamental Plants 4 (3): 275-279.
Khodadadi M. 2009. Effects of maternal bulb size, plant density and planting date on the yield and yield components of onion Ghole Ghese variety. Abhar
Islamic Azad Univ. Pub., Iran, pp:28.
Mohamedali, G.H. and A.H. Nourai, 1988. Effects of bulb source, sowing date and nitrogen nutrition on the seed yield of the white dehydration onion
(Allium cepa L.) in the Sudan. J Hort Sci 63(2): 261-264.
Mondal M.F. 1980. Effect of time of planting of onion bulbs on the yield and quality of seeds. Bangladesh J Agric 5(3): 131-134
Mostafa A.K., 1983. Studies on some factors affecting pollination and seed production in onion. Ph.D. Thesis, Fac. of Agric. Mansoura Univ., pp: 129.
Pathak C.S. 2000. Hybrid Seed Production in Onion. J New Seeds. 1: 89-108.