EFFECT OF NITROGEN AND POTASSIUM ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF ONION

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Farm. Ohaka- 1207. during the Rabi season of 2007-2008 to evaluate the effect of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) on the growth and yield of onion. The research work was carried out with four levels of nitrogen viz. 0,80, 120 and 350 kg N ha 4 and four levels of potassium vi. 0. 120. 160 and 200 kg K20 hi'. Data were recorded on yield and yield Contributing Characters. The results of the experiment revealed that most of the parameters varied significantly with different levels of nitrogen but not with potassium. Single application of N had no significant influence on bulb yield. The highest bulb yield (11.60 ton ha 1) was obtained when plants were grown with nitrogen at 120 kg/ha. but higher levels of N did not show any significant increase on yield of onion. The lowest yield (9.61 ton hi') was recorded in the control treatments. Application of potassium at 120 kg K 20 ha1 produced the highest bulb yield (II .39 ton hi) which was statistically identical with that of 0, 160 and 200 kg K 2 0 ha'. [he interaction effect between nitrogen and potassium were statistically significant. The combination of 120 kg N and 120 kg K20 hi' gave the highest bulb yield (12.88 ton hi'). On the considerations, 120 kg N and 120 kg K-DO hi' were considered as optimum doses for the yield of onion under the experimental conditions.