Oakes Irrigation Research
Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2189, FAX: (701)
742-2700, email: rgreenla@ndsuext.nodak.edu
ONION HYBRID PERFORMANCE TRIAL, 1996
Richard G Greenland and Leonard Besemann
Onions grow well and onion production has increased rapidly in North Dakota. Growers are producing mostly yellow sweet Spanish onions and some storage onions. This trial consisted of 20 onion cultivars.
Table 35. Maturity, stand, and quality of onions.
Table 36. Percent sugar,
NO3, K+, and pH.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Soil: | Maddock sandy loam; pH=7.5; 2.4% organic matter; soil-P was medium; soil-K was high; soil-S was very low. |
Previous crops: | 1995 - soybean; 1994 - carrot; 1993 - pumpkin and winter squash. |
Seedbed preparation: | Disked twice on April 17. Multiweeded (field cultivated) twice on April 18 to incorporate fertilizer and smooth the seedbed. |
Planting: | Drilled barley cover crop on April 18 (1 bu/acre, 7-inch rows). Direct seeded onions on April 19 with a Stanhay vegetable planter at a population of about 200,000 seeds/acre. Planted in paired rows (3" apart), with the paired rows on 16" centers. Onions were planted perpendicular to the barley cover crop. Sprayed Fusilade + Penetrate II on May 21 (1 pt/acre + 1 pt/25 gal) and on June 4 (10 oz/acre + 1 pt/25 gal) to kill the barley cover crop. |
Plots: | Plots were 3 ft (two paired rows) wide by 17 ft long. The study had 4 reps. |
Fertilizer: | On April 17, broadcast 14 lbs N/acre and 70 lbs P2O5/acre as 10-50-0, 16 lbs N/acre and 19 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, and 94 lbs K20/acre as 0-0-60. Sprayed 18 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 on April 17. Side dressed with urea twice: 70 lbs N/acre on June 19; and 50 lbs N/acre on July 9. |
Irrigation: | Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed. |
Pest control: | Weeds were controlled with: Dacthal (8 lbs/acre on May 6 which was preemergence to onions but post emergence to barley); Prowl (1.5 pt/acre on May 21); Buctril and Goal (1.0 and 0.6 pt/acre on June 7); Buctril and Goal (0.5 and 0.3 pt/acre on July 2); Fusilade + Penetrate II (1 pt/acre + 1 pt/25 gal on May 21, June 4, and July 30). No insect control needed. |
Harvest: | Pulled from Aug. 30 to Sept. 16 (depending on maturity). Onions were allowed to dry in the field until about the middle of October, when they were bagged. The tops were removed and onions graded on Nov. 4. |
RESULTS
Pinnacle, Oro Grande, and Santos had the highest yields of large onions. Teton also had high yields but half of the yield was medium or small in size. Fabius yielded well and had excellent quality. Pinnacle and Oro Grande had a high percentage of single centers. Mercury was the best yielding red onion. Yields and quality of most hybrids were good this year.
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Table 34. Onion yields in the Oakes Irrigation Research Station 1996 onion hybrid performance trial. Hybrids listed in order of maturity.
Hybrid | Source1 | >4" | 3 to 4" | 2.25 to 3" | <2.25" | Doubles | Total |
--------------------------------------- cwt/acre --------------------------------------- |
|||||||
Yellow onions | |||||||
Norstar | TH(AS) | 0 f 2 | 92 i | 338 ab | 56 bcd | 0 | 488 hij |
Paragon | TH(SS) | 0 f | 182 hi | 352 ab | 45 b-e | 0 | 590 e-h |
Tamara | BZ | 0 f | 245 gh | 298 bc | 45 cde | 0 | 595 e-h |
Golden Cascade | NH(SC) | 48 c | 480 bc | 181 f-i | 19 hij | 6 | 787 abc |
Copra | TH(AS) | 0 f | 89 i | 314 ab | 62 abc | 0 | 467 ij |
Teton | PS | 0 f | 355 d-g | 365 a | 31 e-h | 1 | 776 abc |
Brown Beauty | NH(SC) | 10 ef | 208 hi | 237 def | 81 a | 0 | 573 f-i |
Discovery | TH(RC) | 2 ef | 247 gh | 162 ghi | 38 d-g | 5 | 491 hij |
Prince | BZ | 0 f | 249 gh | 292 bcd | 43 cde | 0 | 613 efg |
Candy (MD) | NH(PS) | 5 ef | 169 hi | 180 f-i | 64 ab | 6 | 446 j |
Fury | NH(SC) | 5 ef | 327 efg | 244 cde | 42 def | 2 | 661 def |
Pinnacle | PS | 8 ef | 621 a | 178 f-i | 23 f-j | 0 | 841 ab |
Oro Grande | FM | 40 cd | 539 ab | 215 efg | 16 hij | 1 | 870 a |
Augustus | FM | 42 cd | 459 bcd | 238 c-f | 17 hij | 2 | 817 ab |
Fabius | FM | 51 bc | 445 b-e | 138 ij | 9 j | 4 | 698 cde |
Valient | TH(PE) | 27 cde | 425 b-e | 95 j | 10 ij | 0 | 580 fgh |
Santos | VL | 139 a | 431 b-e | 85 j | 18 hij | 4 | 751 bcd |
Red onions | |||||||
Mercury | NH(PS) | 2 ef | 402 c-f | 182 f-i | 20 g-j | 4 | 621 ef |
Bennies Red | TH(AS) | 14 def | 283 fgh | 136 hij | 25 e-j | 8 | 489 hij |
Fuego | PS | 7 ef | 233 gh | 206 e-h | 30 e-i | 5 | 504 g-j |
C.V.(%) | 90 | 25 | 19 | 39 | 227 | 12 |
1See appendix A for seed source codes.
2Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level (no letters in column = no significant differences between values in that column).
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Table 35. Maturity, stand, and quality results for the Oakes Irrigation Research Station 1996 onion hybrid performance trial.
Hybrid | Seed source1 | Days to half-down2 | Total bulbs | Single centers | Overall score | Uniformity |
1000s/acre | % | 1 to 10 | 1 to 5 | |||
Yellow onions | ||||||
Norstar | TH(AS) | 117 | 151 a-d | 15 e-h | 8.0 abc | 4.0 |
Paragon | TH(SS) | 118 | 162 abc | 13 e-h | 7.8 a-d | 4.0 |
Tamara | BZ | 121 | 154 a-d | 25 c-h | 7.9 a-d | 4.0 |
Golden Cascade | NH(SC) | 121 | 148 bcd | 25 c-h | 7.6 a-e | 3.8 |
Copra | TH(AS) | 122 | 159 abc | 10 fgh | 7.5 b-e | 3.9 |
Teton | PS | 122 | 170 a | 35 b-f | 7.3 cde | 3.5 |
Brown Beauty | NH(SC) | 122 | 159 abc | 0 h | 7.1 de | 3.6 |
Discovery | TH(RC) | 122 | 121 efg | 0 h | 7.5 b-e | 3.8 |
Prince | BZ | 122 | 155 a-d | 5 gh | 7.3 cde | 3.6 |
Candy (MD) | NH(PS) | 124 | 141 cde | 20 d-h | 6.0 f | 3.1 |
Fury | NH(SC) | 124 | 149 a-d | 65 a | 6.9 e | 3.3 |
Pinnacle | PS | 129 | 151 a-d | 60 ab | 8.3 ab | 4.1 |
Oro Grande | FM | 130 | 162 ab | 60 ab | 7.4 cde | 3.6 |
Augustus | FM | 131 | 156 abc | 30 c-g | 7.6 a-e | 3.6 |
Fabius | FM | 133 | 121 efg | 30 c-g | 8.4 a | 4.0 |
Valient | TH(PE) | 133 | 92 h | 50 abc | 7.5 b-e | 3.5 |
Santos | VL | 133 | 123 efg | 5 gh | 7.5 b-e | 3.6 |
Red onions | ||||||
Mercury | NH(PS) | 121 | 135 def | 45 a-d | 7.5 b-e | 3.8 |
Bennies Red | TH(AS) | 128 | 108 gh | 39 a-e | 7.6 a-e | 3.7 |
Fuego | PS | 135 | 116 fg | 13 e-h | 7.8 a-d | 3.8 |
LSD (0.05) | 4 | * | * | * | NS | |
C.V. (%) | 2 | 10 | 68 | 8 | 11 |
1See appendix A for seed source codes.
2The "days to half-down" value was the number of days from planting to when half the onion tops had fallen over. This is an indication of maturity.
*Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level.
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Table 36. Quality data of the Oakes Irrigation Research Station 1996 onion hybrid performance trial. Hybrids listed in order of maturity.
Hybrid | Seed source1 | Sugar | NO3- | K+ | pH |
% | ------------ppm------------- | ||||
Yellow onions | |||||
Norstar | TH(AS) | 9.0 | 3075 | 1575 | 5.55 |
Paragon | TH(SS) | 8.8 | 2475 | 1200 | 5.65 |
Tamara | BZ | 10.5 | 4450 | 1775 | 5.73 |
Golden Cascade | NH(SC) | 6.2 | 328 | 1168 | 5.49 |
Copra | TH(AS) | 10.6 | 5833 | 1867 | 5.60 |
Teton | PS | 9.7 | 2625 | 1575 | 5.63 |
Brown Beauty | NH(SC) | 7.9 | 710 | 1250 | 6.01 |
Discovery | TH(RC) | 8.0 | 2400 | 1250 | 5.61 |
Prince | BZ | 8.5 | 1020 | 1500 | 5.65 |
Candy (MD) | NH(PS) | 8.0 | 162 | 1525 | 5.64 |
Fury | NH(SC) | 7.7 | 1040 | 1400 | 5.54 |
Pinnacle | PS | 8.2 | 1550 | 1375 | 5.54 |
Oro Grande | FM | 7.6 | 3300 | 1200 | 5.51 |
Augustus | FM | 8.1 | 2725 | 1300 | 5.54 |
Fabius | FM | 9.3 | 3175 | 1675 | 5.60 |
Valient | TH(PE) | 7.7 | 1270 | 1400 | 5.60 |
Santos | VL | 7.4 | 795 | 1043 | 5.41 |
Red onions | |||||
Mercury | NH(PS) | 7.0 | 928 | 1200 | 5.33 |
Bennies Red | TH(AS) | 8.8 | 1225 | 1425 | 5.65 |
Fuego | PS | 10.3 | 870 | 1825 | 5.65 |
1See appendix A for seed source codes.
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Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials
Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1996 annual report