PERFORMANCE OF KHARIF ONION GENOTYPES UNDER DIFFERENT DATES OF PLANTING FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMICS IN GANGETIC PLAINS OF WEST BENGAL

Two sets of experiment were conducted at Mondouri (W.B.) during 2010-11 and 2011-12 to find out the suitable varieties and to standardize the date of planting for Kharif onion production in the Gangetic plains. During first year, eight varieties namely Agrifound Dark Red, Agrifound Light Red, N-53, Baswant -780, Arka Kalyan, Pusa Red, Nasik Red and Bombay Red were evaluated. After evaluation, three best perfoming varieties namely, Baswant -780, N -53 and Agrifound Dark Red were selected and transplanted on four different dates of planting (28 July, 18 August, 8 and 29 September) to identify the most suitable planting date for Kharif onion cultivation. Results indicated that maximum yield of 152.50 q ha -1 was obtained from Baswant-780. In the second experiment highest plant height, neck diameter, weight of fresh bulb, diameter of bulb and maximum yield of 167.48 q ha -1 was also obtained from Baswant-780 where the seedlings were transplanted on 8 September. Amongst the three varieties with different dates of planting, it revealed that the variety Baswant-780 followed by Agrifound Dark were found as the most suitable Kharif onion should be planted in between the second week of August and second week of September. The maximum net returns (`. 217975 ha- 1 ) and B:C ratio (1.56) were obtained from variety Baswant - 780 planted on 8 September.