Effect of methods of harvesting and time of curing on storage life of onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivar agrifound light red

Abstract

The investigation was carried out on effect of last irrigation and curing on yield and post-harvest losses of Rabi onion. After field and shade curing, the onion bulbs were kept three months upto September under ambient conditions to assess the post-harvest losses. Treatments were evaluated on the basis of storage life of onion. The results revealed that, the minimum neck thickness at the time of storage (0.892 cm) were recorded with m3 (Harvesting without irrigation). The results indicated that crop harvesting without irrigation (m3) recorded maximum weight of fresh onion after three month of storage life (14.541kg) and minimum per cent weight loss after three month of storage life (27.29%). As regards to field curing treatments, field curing of onion bulbs for four days curing in field condition produced significantly higher fresh onion after three month of storage life (14.541kg) and minimum per cent weight loss after three month of storage life (25.72%) during storage in 2012-13, respectively, over no curing.