Articles
PERFORMANCE OF BUNCHING ONION (Allium fistulosum L.) CULTIVARS IN THE LOWLANDS OF TROPICAL MALAYSIA
Article number
555_11
Pages
99 – 101
Language
English
Abstract
Bunching onion is a commonly imported vegetable and is popular among expatriates in Malaysia.
Recently local consumers have developed a taste for the vegetable due to its tenderness and sweetness.
Bunching onion is occasionally grown in the highlands but never in the lowlands of tropical Malaysia.
In 1996, two experiments using four imported bunching onion cultivars were conducted on Malaysia’s oligotrophic peat. In the first experiment the cultivars were planted at two levels of Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K.) The replicated 4×2 factorial experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block (RCB) design.
No yield differences were detected between cultivars.
Only two of the four cultivars evaluated had the single long blanched pseudostem.
The other two cultivars had many tillers (>4 tillers) and were more suitable for use as spring onion.
The two bunching onion cultivars identified were also taller and had bigger pseudostems than the tillering cultivars.
Higher N and K levels recorded higher yields and taller plants.
The N and K levels had no effect on the size of the pseudostem.
In the second experiment the four cultivars were planted at two planting densities.
The cultivar Ishikura was taller and yielded significantly higher than the other bunching onion cultivar, Feast.
No differences were detected in the size of the pseudostem between the two planting densities.
The experiments indicated that bunching onion can be successfully grown in the lowlands of the tropics provided the appropriate cultivar is used, together with suitable agronomic practices.
Recently local consumers have developed a taste for the vegetable due to its tenderness and sweetness.
Bunching onion is occasionally grown in the highlands but never in the lowlands of tropical Malaysia.
In 1996, two experiments using four imported bunching onion cultivars were conducted on Malaysia’s oligotrophic peat. In the first experiment the cultivars were planted at two levels of Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K.) The replicated 4×2 factorial experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block (RCB) design.
No yield differences were detected between cultivars.
Only two of the four cultivars evaluated had the single long blanched pseudostem.
The other two cultivars had many tillers (>4 tillers) and were more suitable for use as spring onion.
The two bunching onion cultivars identified were also taller and had bigger pseudostems than the tillering cultivars.
Higher N and K levels recorded higher yields and taller plants.
The N and K levels had no effect on the size of the pseudostem.
In the second experiment the four cultivars were planted at two planting densities.
The cultivar Ishikura was taller and yielded significantly higher than the other bunching onion cultivar, Feast.
No differences were detected in the size of the pseudostem between the two planting densities.
The experiments indicated that bunching onion can be successfully grown in the lowlands of the tropics provided the appropriate cultivar is used, together with suitable agronomic practices.
Publication
Authors
A.C. Leong
Keywords
cv. Ishikura, fertilizer, spacing, yield, net returns
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