Micro irrigation technology for increasing water and fertilizer use efficiency of kharif onion

Onion is an important vegetable crop and occupies 1.087 million ha area with a total production of 17.51 million ton (2011-12) in India. In north India, onion is cultivated mainly in rabi season which is harvested in April-May. The yield of onion varies from 25 to 35 t/ha under irrigated condition in rabi season whereas it is only 15-20 t/ha in kharif season. Low productivity of kharif onion is mainly because of lack of awareness of the farmers about its production technology namely drip fertigation technology. Keeping the above point in mind, a new crop production technology was developed with the objectives of assessing the potential of kharif onion in remunerative replacement of rice in water deficit areas of north India. Study was conducted at Water Technology Centre during 2011 and 2012 to develop production technology for growing kharif onion under drip fertigation system. Onion (var. N 53) was sown during the last week of July to first week of August at a plant to plant spacing of 10 cm and row to row spacing’s of 15.0 cm. Spacing between two laterals was 1.2 m, accommodating 6 rows of onions per bed, per lateral. Water requirement of kharif onion was estimated as 30 cm under drip and 45 cm in flood irrigation. The highest water productivity of 7.4 kg/m3 was obtained under drip fertigation technology while in flood it was 2.8 kg/m3. This technology needs large scale adoption in north India known for rice production for the saving of water secondly farmers may have much profit by growing onion in kharif season in place of paddy.