VARIETAL SCREENING OF ONION (ALLIUM CEPA) GENOTYPES AGAINST ONION THRIPS (THRIPS TABACI) UNDER AGRO ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF BAHAWALPUR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

A field study was conducted to investigate the relative resistance or susceptibility of different onion genotypes i.e., Amaloon, Dark red, Diana, Golden ORB, Phulkara, Red ORB and 88 against onion thrips, Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) under the agro-ecological conditions of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The experiment was conducted at experimental area of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The research was performed in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Results showed that genotype Dark red and genotype Diana were highly susceptible with 8.63 and 8.48 thrips per plant. Genotype Amaloon and genotype Phulkara were susceptible to thrips population with 6.41 and 6.35 thrips per plant. Genotype 88 was resistant against thrips attack with 4.74 thrips per plant. Golden ORB and Red ORB genotypes showed moderate resistance with 5.46 and 5.22 thrips per plant. Maximum bulb yield was obtained from Dark red genotype (11111.11 kg/acre) followed by genotype 88 (9333.33 kg/acre) while minimum yield was obtained from genotype Golden ORB (6088.89 kg/acre). Morphological traits were also studied which were plant leaves color, number of leaves, plant height, plant succulency percentage. Morphological traits affected thrips population like highly susceptible onion genotypes Dark Red and Diana leaves had dark green color with maximum number of leaves, maximum height of plant and with high succulency percentage while in genotype 88 all traits were vice versa. Results showed that 88 genotypes could be most suitable for the commercial purpose due to its maximum yield performance and least susceptibility against thrips for the region of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan.

Keywords

• Onion Allium cepa
• Thrips
• Tolerance
• yield