Genotypic response to bolting tolerance in short day onion (Allium cepa L.) Gupta Amar Jeet*, Mahajan Vijay, Lawande KE ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research, Rajgurunagar-410 505, Pune, Maharashtra *Corresponding author, E-mail: guptaaj75@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 21 May, 2018. Abstract Onion is considered as an important vegetable crop in the world. India is the second largest producer of onion contributing about 20% world production. At the present times, onion is adapted to various agro-climatic conditions of India and cultivated in all seasons (kharif, late kharif and rabi) using advanced technology and improved varieties. Bolting is a physiological disorder and reduces quality and marketable yield of onion and having poor storability. Onion plants are biennials i.e. they normally flower in the second season of their development. However, under favourable conditions, some sensitive varieties bolt in the first season itself. Bolting is a result of complicated interaction between genotype, plant age and environmental factors. Bolting is essential for seed production, but undesirable during bulb production. Bolting varies with genotype susceptibility and resistance, and is clearly influenced by temperature or cultivar or both. This problem occurs mostly in late kharif due to variation in temperature during vegetative growth under Indian plains. With suitable screening method more potent lines can be screened by critical selection for bolting resistance. Twelve advance lines/varieties of short day onion were screened for bolting tolerance during late kharif season with five dates of planting at 15 days interval. On the basis of two years data, highest marketable yield was recorded in DOGR-1168 (38.84 t/ha) followed by DOGR-595 (37.02 t/ha) with the minimum bolting percentage (<5%). Thus, these lines can be further exploited in breeding programme. Top Keywords Screening, bolting, tolerant, variety, short day and onion. Top |