Abstract:
Onion is one of the most important vegetable crops in Koga Irrigation Scheme which is mainly
produced by small holder farmers. However, the yield of the crop is constrained by several
factors. Limited availability of improved varieties and inappropriate application of nitrogen
fertilizer are among the major constraints of onion production. Therefore, a field experiment
was conducted at Koga Irrigation Scheme during the 2022 Irrigation season to evaluate the
effects of nitrogen fertilizer on the growth, yield and quality of hybrid onion varieties and to
determine the optimum nitrogen fertilizer for economical production of onion varieties. The
treatments consisted of four onion varieties (Red coach, Russet, Jambar and Bombay red) and
four levels of nitrogen (0, 41, 82 and 123kg ha
-1
). The experiment was laid out in Randomized
Complete Block Design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. Growth, yield and
quality parameters were collected and the analysis of variance for the collected data was
performed by using SAS (version 9.4) software. The results of the study indicated that the main
effect of varieties and nitrogen fertilizer very highly significantly affected stand count, days to
bulb maturity, plant height, leaf length, leaf number, bulb neck diameter, bulb length, harvest
index, total soluble solid and bulb dry matter contents. The interaction effects of varieties and
nitrogen fertilizer highly significantly influenced the bulb weight, bulb diameter, marketable
bulb yield and total bulb yield of onion. The highest marketable bulb yield (57.84 t ha
), bulb
weight (165.87g) and bulb diameter (7.89cm) was obtained from the interaction of Russet
variety with 82 kg N ha
-1
. However, the lowest marketable yield (21.74 t ha
) was obtained
from Bombay red variety with control treatments. Based on the partial budget analysis, the
highest net benefits (969884.8 Birr ha
-1
) and the highest marginal rate of return (2007.50%)
were recorded from Russet variety with 82 kg ha
vi
-1
nitrogen fertilizer. Therefore, Russet variety
with 82 kg N ha
-1
is recommended for the production of onion for Koga Irrigation Scheme. As
the results are limited to one season and location, further studies over multiple locations and
seasons are necessary to establish sustainable recommendations.