Effect of soil and foliar application of boron on growth and seed yield of onion

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season, 2015-16 at Research Farm, Chilli and Vegetable Research Unit, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola with an objective to study the effect of soil and foliar application of boron on growth and seed yield of onion (cv. Akola Safed) on Inceptisol in randomized block design with seven treatments and three replications fertilized with different levels of boron fertilizers. The treatments comprised of three levels of basal dose of boron through borax @ 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 kg ha-1 at the time of planting of onion bulbs and foliar sprays of boron through borax @ 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% at buttoning stage (60 DAP). The result revealed that the growth attributing characters such as highest number of tillers per plant (11.85), lowest number of days to attain 50% buttoning stage (27 days after planting), highest number of umbels per plant (12.83) and highest polar diameter (4.06 cm) and equatorial diameter (4.92 cm) were recorded with the soil application of borax @ 3.0 kg ha-1 (T3). However the significantly highest yield and yield attributing characters viz., umbellate per umbel (227.55), seeds per umbel (680.87), seed weight per umbel (3.46 g), seed yield (14.84 q ha-1) and quality parameters such as test weight – g/1000 seeds (5.18 g) were found most effective with the foliar sprays of borax @ 0.2% at buttoning stage (60 DAP) which was at par with foliar sprays of borax @ 0.3% at buttoning stage (60 DAP) followed by soil application of borax @ 3.0 kg ha-1. It could be concluded that, foliar application of borax @ 0.2% at buttoning stage (60 DAP) or soil application of borax @ 3.0 kg ha-1 at the time of planting of onion bulbs recorded highest seed yield.