Abstract:
Onion is a common and widely used spice crop all over the world. It is a semi-perishable
vegetable, and in many underdeveloped countries, like Ethiopia, poor agricultural and
postharvest practices resulted in increased losses. The aim of the study was to assess the postharvest
handling and shelf life on onion seed and bulb and data was gathered from 123 onionproducing
households using semi-structured questioners, focus group discussions. The whole
onion value chain was recorded and analyzed using SPSS version 22. The survey found that the
majority of onion growers in the research region did not follow the suggested onion irrigation
cultural practices. Lack of improved onion seeds is another crucial factor contributing to low
onion productivity in the study area. The onion production system under farmer's practice is
characterized by low rates of fertilizer application, low population of onion plants per unit area,
high incidence of disease and insect pests, pesticide shortages, and pesticide adulteration. As a
result, farmers' onion productivity was low 75q/ha) compared to regional production
(122.82q/ha) and Central Gondar Zone (102.9).Shortage of irrigation water, high costs of
irrigation equipment, shortage of genuine spare parts and accessories, shortage of pesticides
and their adulteration, limited supply of improved onion seeds and lack of storage facilities, lack
of skills and knowledge, high incidence of diseases and insect pests, and weak extension and
credit services were the major constraints to onion production in the study area. It is required to
overcome the challenges mentioned above by training, extension operations, and boosting the
availability of inputs in order to increase onion output and productivity in Takussa district. The
germination test of four seed sources of onion seed and bulbs were conducted in the laboratory
of Bahir Dar University and at Takussa farmer’s field respectively. Treatments consisted of fouronion
bulbs and seeds source (Mekonta, Chankie, Bergen and Achera) laid out in complete
randomized design(CRD) and randomized complete block design(RCBD)replicated three times
in laboratory and field test respectively. The results showed highly significant differences among
seed sources in onion seeds germination and non-germination percentage. The results of
ANOVA also showed significant differences among bulb sources in onion seeds germination and
non-germination percentage. The highest germination percentage was found to be 90.2% in
Bergen seed source. However, in the case of bulbs, the higher values for germination percentage
67.5% was observed in onion bulbs germination count after 12 days. This result shows onion
seeds were higher germination percentage than onion bulbs. Therefore, onion seeds are
recommended to use for production of onion in the study area and similar agro ecological zones.