Effect of different pre-harvest chemical sprays on growth, yield and quality attributes of onion Anbukkarasi V.1, Paramaguru P.2, Pugalendhi L.3, Ragupathi N.3, Jeyakumar P.4 1Dept. of Fruit Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003. E-mail: anbuhort@gmail.com 2Dept. of Spice & Planattion Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore 3Dept. of Vegetable Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore 4Dept. of Crop Physiology, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore Online published on 29 March, 2016. Abstract The field experiments were carried out to study the effect of different pre-harvest chemical sprays on growth, yield and quality attributes of onion at College Orchard of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during July, 2008 to April, 2010. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design (FRBD) with twelve treatments with thrice replication. The treatments consist of different growth regulators (T1-Maleic hydrazide @ 2000 ppm, T2-Ethrel @ 125 ppm, T3-Cycocel @ 200 ppm), fungicides (T4-Carbendazim @1000 ppm, T5-Aureofungin @ 150 ppm) and their combinations (T6-T1 + T4, T7-T1 + T5, T8-T2 + T4, T9-T2 + T5, T10-T3 + T4, T11-T3 + T5) with control (T12). The pre-harvest sprays were carried out at two different stages viz., 30 days before harvest (S1) and 15 days before harvest (S2). The results revealed that spraying of Maleic hydrazide @ 2000 ppm + Carbendazim @ 1000 ppm at 30 days before harvest (T6S1) recorded highest number of leaves per plant (15.75), bulb girth (16.15cm), shoot to bulb ratio (0.89), number of bulbs per plant (7.01), bulb weight (66.27g), estimated yield per hectare (19.08t.ha−1), protein (19.33 mg.g−1) and Total soluble solids (13.74Úbrix) compared to control (T12S1). Top Keywords Growth regulators, yield, onion, quality. Top |