Promotion of Onion Seed Production Technologies for Improving Productivity in Upper and Middle Awash Irrigated Areas

Abstract

The onion (Allium cepa L.) is a member of the family Alliaceae and the most widely grown biennial vegetable crop that needs quality planting material for its successful production. For the supply of seeds, the informal sector is playing a significant role in reaching many farmers. Most of the demand for onion seeds is either met by local supplies through an unorganized market system or by imported seeds through an informal trend. Therefore, this experiment was conducted at two kebeles in each of the Fentale and Amibara districts on small-scale irrigation in 2021 to demonstrate Nafis and Nafid onion seed production technologies through a participatory approach. The experiment was done on a systematically selected agro-pastoralist. The field experiment was laid out in a single plot having an area of 10 by 10 m2. Two released onion varieties, Nafis and Nafid, were used in this experiment. Planting date, seed yield per plot and hectare, number of stakes per plant, stake diameter, length of primary stake, and numbers of umbels per plant were all collected. Using SAS software, version 9.0, collected data were analyzed for an independent two-sample t-test. The yield performance of demonstrated onion varieties was computed using an independent-sample t-test to compare the performance of average yield differences between the two varieties. Accordingly, a significant difference was observed in the average seed yield for varieties Nafis (10.72 q ha-1) and Nafid (9.17 q ha-1). It is concluded that the Nafis variety really does have an advantage of 1.55 q ha-1 seed yield over the Nafid variety. Therefore, it suggests that the Nafis variety will increase their seed yields when aggro-pastoralists need to produce onion seed.