Growth and productivity of Onion (Allium cepa L.) as influenced by set size and spraying with Nanocarbon.

Abstract

Abstract A field study was conducted in Diwaniyah city at the winter season 2017-2018 for studying the effect of the set size and Nanocarbon compounds on the growth and yield of onion plant Allium cepa L. three set sizes (small, medium and large ) and two Nanocarbon concentrations(0 and 500 mg / L) were used in the experiment. A range of vegetative traits including plant height and number of leaves, total leaf area, chlorophyll rate and number of roots were studied. In addition to yield characteristics that includes number of bulbs, fresh and dry weight and productivity. The results showed that set size and Nanocarbon compounds significantly affected the vegetative growth of the studied plants. plants planted with large sets and treated by 500 mg/L Nano-carbon scored the best results for plant height, chlorophyll rate and leaf area. In which, it recorded the highest plant height (70.1 cm), and the maximum chlorophyll content (80.18 mg/ml), and the maximum leaf area (5.21 cm2), compared to control treatment which scored (26.5 cm), (47.59 mg/ml), (2.21cm2) for the same parameters above. The number of leaves/plants increased with the increase in set size while it decreased when treated by all Nano-carbon concentration. The large set gave the highest number of leaves/plants when not treated by Nanocarbon as it reached 8.5 leaves, in comparison with those treated by Nanocarbon and the comparison treatment which reached 7.1and 7.5 respectively. The plants planted with medium sets and treated by (500 mg/L) of Nanocarbon gave the largest number of roots/plant reached 90.1 root, compared to control plants, which have 68 root only. large set plants treated by 500mg/L. carbon nanotubes increased The number of double bulbs, fresh weight, dry weight and productivity increased to 7.9, 31.01g, 9.0 g and 70.017respectively in compare to control plants which scored 1.8, 27.59g, 2.531g and 64.636 for the same parameters respectively.