Multiplier onion or Aggregatum onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) is one of the important bulbous vegetable cultivated in India. Onion is mainly propagated through bulbs and approximately 1000 kg of bulb is required for planting in one hectare of area. Huge quantities of onion bulbs are wasted for propagation purpose. By switching over from bulb propagation method to seed, there is a saving of seed bulb to a tune of 1000 kg/ha. As Aggregatum onion is being cultivated in 30,000 hectares in Tamil Nadu, a saving of 30,000 tonnes bulbs could be obtained. In addition to this, the bulbs must be bolder in size with attractive pink in colour for consumer attraction. Considering the bottlenecks, breeding programme was initiated to develop a seed setting onion type with attractive pink coloured bulbs to meet the demands of domestic and export markets. |
