Rich diversity in cultivated Finnish potato onions (Allium cepa var. aggregatum G. Don)

Potato onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum G. Don) remained the most widely grown onion type in Finland up to the 1950’s, after which the more productive cultivars of common onion replaced this vegetatively propagated onion type. The Finnish accessions have been maintained in two national plant genetic resources (PGR) collections since 1990’s but new samples have been obtained still later. In this research, we analysed the genetic diversity of potato onions and shallots, grown in home gardens and in PGR collection, and compared the uniformity of the two PGR collections. One hundred ten onion samples were analysed using eight microsatellite loci, which amplified 83 alleles in total. There was a large number of genetically different samples, forming four major groups in the dendrogram. The results show that there is still a lot of genetic diversity among the Finnish potato onions, even though they are propagated vegetatively. The rich diversity in the samples obtained from citizens reflects a valuable source of genetic resources maintained by home gardeners. The national collection has been updated on the basis of the results. To ensure the preservation of the rich onion heritage, efforts are needed to increase the availability of potato onion to home gardeners and commercial growers.

Biochar and Intercropping With Potato–Onion Enhanced the Growth and Yield Advantages of Tomato by Regulating the Soil Properties, Nutrient Uptake, and Soil Microbial Community

The application of biochar stimulates the activities of microorganisms that affect soil quality and plant growth. However, studies on the impacts of biochar mainly focus on a monoculture, its effects on interspecific interactions are rarely reported. Here, we investigated the impacts of biochar on tomato/potato–onion intercropped (TO) in a pot experiment. Tomato monoculture (T) and TO were treated with no, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.2% biochar concentrations in a pot experiment. Microbial communities from tomato rhizosphere soil were analyzed by quantitative PCR and Illumina MiSeq. The results showed that compared with the tomato monoculture, 0.6%TO and 1.2%TO significantly increased tomato yield in 2018. TO and 1.2%TO significantly increased plant height and dry weight in 2018 and 2019. Biochar treatments increased soil pH, decreased NO3--N and bulk density, and increased the absorption of N, P, and K by tomato. Bacterial and fungal abundances increased with an increase in biochar concentration, while Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. abundances showed an “increase-decrease-increase” trend. Biochar had a little effect on bacterial diversities but significantly lowered fungal diversities. TO, 0.6%TO, and 1.2%TO increased the potentially beneficial organisms (e.g., Pseudeurotium and Solirubrobacter) and lowered the potentially pathogenic organisms (e.g., Kribbella and Ilyonectria). Different concentrations of biochar affected the bacterial and fungal community structures. Redundancy analysis indicated that the bacterial community was strongly correlated with soil pH, NO3--N, and EC, while the fungal community was closely related to soil NO3--N and moisture. The network analysis showed that biochar and intercropping affected the symbiosis pattern of the microorganisms and increased the proportion of positive interactions and nitrifying microorganisms (Nitrospirae) in the microbial community. Overall, our results indicated that monoculture and intercropping with biochar improved soil physicochemical states and plant nutrient absorption, and regulated soil microbial communities, these were the main factors to promote tomato growth and increase tomato productivity.

Identification of Biological Efficient and Profitable Cropping Systems in Central Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh

A field experiment was executed with ten crop sequences during 2016-17 at C.S.Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. All these sequences were evaluated for their system productivity, production efficiency, land use efficiency and economic analysis. Highest system productivity 320.43 q REY /ha was obtained through maize + black gram – potato – onion crop sequence followed by maize – garlic – green gram (291.1 q REY /ha). Highest land use efficiency (90.1%) measured through Scented rice – wheat –okra crop sequence while maximum production efficiency 121.83 kg/ha/ day was achieved by maize + black gram – potato – onion crop sequence. The highest net return of Rs.282799.0 /ha, crop profitability of Rs. 1075.28 /ha / day and system profitability of Rs. 774.79 /ha/day was obtained through maize + black gram – potato – onion followed by maize – garlic – green gram (G+R) crop sequence, while highest return per rupee investment (1:3.24) was computed on hybrid rice- wheat cropping system followed by maize – mustard- onion crop sequence (1: 3.21). Electrochemical properties were also evaluated in each cropping sequence. On the basis of different biological indices and economical analysis maize + black gram – potato – onion crop sequence observed as biological efficient followed by maize – garlic – green gram (G+R) crop sequence over all other cropping systems.

Effects of potato-onion intercropping on root morphology of tomato through volatile organic compounds

Facilitative interactions occur between the plants in intercropping systems, however, the underlying allelopathy mechanisms are poorly understood. We determined the effects of potato-onion (Allium cepa var. agrogatum Don.) intercrop on root morphology of tomato (Lycopersicon esculenum L.) through volatile organic compounds (VOCs). There were four treatments as (i) Tomato/tomato without VOCs interaction (-TT), (ii) Tomato/tomato with VOCs interaction (+TT, control), (iii) Potato-onion/tomato without VOCs interaction (-OT) and (iv) Potato-onion/tomato with VOCs interaction +(OT) in glasshouses. As compared to tomato, VOCs from potato-onion significantly increased the number of root tips total length but decreased the root diameter of tomato, however significantly the increase the tomato root length (0-0.5 mm mean diameter). These results indicated that the tomato root morphology has influenced by aboveground secreted VOCs from neighboring plants in potato-onion intercropping system.

Impact of Covid-19 on Major Vegetable Markets of Gujarat

The Covid-19 pandemic had affected the country in all aspects. Agriculture is considered as a backbone of the Indian economy. The agriculture and allied sector are also affected in various ways during the Covid-19 pandemic. The country called out lockdown due to a pandemic situation, and it affected the supply chain of agricultural produce on a larger scale. The potato, onion and tomato are the important vegetables of food dishes in India. The present study focused on these three vegetables for the four major vegetable markets of Gujarat, namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda and Rajkot. The data on business days, price and arrivals were collected from the Agmark.net webpage for January-April 2019 - 2020. The study suggested that in the major markets of Gujarat total 178.8 Cr was loss observed in potato, tomato and onion from January to April 2020 compared to the same period of 2019. Thus lockdown 1 and 2 impacted on business days, arrivals and price of major commodities in major markets of Gujarat.

Onion Productivity and Price Change Aspects in India: An Overview

AlliumCepathe scientific name of an onion. After potato Onion is the second most essential vegetable in our India. And also onions are very famous in all around the world. In India, the productivity of onion is about 13 lakh tons every month, and in the world, the onion productivity ratio is about 19.40 million. There are about 100 types of onion throughout the world and basically, India produces 9 types of major onion. Onion is very rich in vitamin C (12%)content and vitamin B-6( 5%)content and also rich in minerals like iron(1%) and calcium(2%). In the last 10 years, Maharashtra( 4905.0 thousand tons) is the biggest onion producing state in India. But in 2019 onion prices overlap at Rs 10 kg from Rs 100 kg as demand loss will take place. A huge amount of wastage of onion takes place every year due to bad Monsoon, transport system and the amount of wastage is nearly 25% of the total production. In 10 years a remarkable increase in the production of onion in India and also an increase in the area about 768,000 ha to 1064,000 ha. Onion production has been several benefits like it reduces our cholesterol level, fights against inflammation, decreases triglycerides and it contains a high amount of antioxidants. The impact of onion production on the Indian economy, an increase of onion productivity, price drop, Government policies related to onion production also have been focused on in this review.