Molecular Soil Biology 2024, Vol.15, No.5, 227-235 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/msb 227 Research Report Open Access Influence of Watering Regime on Growth, Yield and Bulb Nutritional Composition of Aliumcepa L. (Onion) under sreenhouse Conditions Otitoloju Kekere , Augusta Omolara Ogbedebi, Olumakinde Akinbuwa, Yetunde I. Bulu, Taiwo Ekundayo Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria Corresponding email: otito.kekere@aaua.edu.ng Molecular Soil Biology, 2024, Vol.15, No.5 doi: 10.5376/msb.2024.15.0023 Received: 06 Aug., 2024 Accepted: 18 Sep., 2024 Published: 08 Oct., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Kekere et al, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Kekere O., Ogbedebi A.O., Akinbuwa O., Bulu Y.I., and Ekundayo T., 2024, Influence of watering regime on growth, yield and bulb nutritional composition of Aliumcepa L. (onion) under sreenhouse conditions, Molecular Soil Biology, 15(5): 227-235 (doi: 10.5376/msb.2024.15.0023) Abstract Scarcity and high cost of onions in Nigeria might be connected to production still largely limited to the field in the north where weather condition is most favorable to it. Its cultivation under screenhouse conditions requires knowledge of optimal watering regime; hence, watering frequency was investigated on onion. Plants were raised in polyethylene pots filled with 9 kg top soil and exposed to wet conditions: watering daily (W0), 3 times/week (W1) and once/week (W2); drought conditions: watering once/1½ weeks (W3) and once/2 weeks (W4); or waterlogged condition: planted in water-saturated soil (W5). Except waterlogging, soil was watered to field capacity in perforated pots. Plant height and number of leaves were reduced by 68.53% and 70.15% respectively at W5.W5 also reduced shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root dry weight from 38.42 g to 19.41 g, 14.00 g to 2.60 g, 6.01 g to 1.31 g, and 3.56 g to 0.73 g respectively relative to W0. Growth reduction considering plant height with fresh and dry weights of plant parts increased with increasing severity of drought, with the highest at W4. Yield in terms of number of bulbs and bulb size were optimal at W1 and W2 relative to other treatments. Except nitrogen free extract, bulb proximate composition was highest under W1. Except Ca and Mg, nutrients were highest under W1. Relative to W0,W5 reduced bulb nutritional and proximate compositions. Onions’ optimal production can be achieved under wet conditions, partially in drought but poorly under waterlogging. Keywords Onion; Water stress; Irrigation; Yield 1 Introduction Onion (Allium cepa L.) has been valued as a food and medicinal plant since ancient times (Ahmad et al., 2021). It is widely cultivated and is a vegetable bulb crop known by most cultures and consumed worldwide (Barret and Lloyd, 2012; Friedmann et al., 2014). It is a short duration horticultural crop (Brewster, 2012). It is commonly known as “Queen of the kitchen,” due to its highly valued flavor, aroma, and unique taste, and the medicinal properties of its flavor compounds (Selvaraj, 2017; Griffiths et al., 2018). Onion is used throughout the year, for example in curries in the form of spices, in salads as a condiment, or cooked with other vegetables in boiled or baked form. It is also used in different forms of processed food like pickles, powder, paste and flakes, and it is known for its medicinal values. Nigeria is one of the main producers of onion in the world and the major producer in Africa (Aliyu et al., 2009a, 2009b; 2009c) with its annual world production surpassing 2 million tons. Due to the several forms in which is traded, onion is now one of the most important trade commodities in the world (Maitasamu, 2010). It is a cash crop for income generation by many households in Nigeria. Water deficiency is a limiting factor for agricultural crop exerting negative impact on molecular, biochemical, physiological and morphological processes, and negative traits in plants, causing decrease in growth and yield (Mariani and Ferrante, 2017; Begna, 2020). Global warming is one of the reasons to cause drought and flooding(Wang et al., 2023). There is high demand for onion in Nigeria because of its numerous uses. The northern part of Nigeria is where onion cultivation is currently thriving, thereby causing limitation in the availability of the crop in southern Nigeria. The crop isn’t usually cultivated in southern Nigeria which might not be unconnected to climatic factors particularly soil water regime as soil moisture status is known to be critical in its production (Wang et al., 2023).
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