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,
1997
Richard Greenland, Leonard Besemann, and Heidi Kerlin
Onions grow well in North Dakota. Growers are producing mostly yellow sweet Spanish onions and some storage onions.
Table 17. Maturity, stand, and percent single centers for onions.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
| Soil: | Egeland loam and Maddock sandy loam; pH=7.5; 2.7% organic matter; soil-P and soil-K were very high; soil-S was low. |
| Previous crops: | 1996 - pumpkin, squash, cucumber and potato; 1995 - carrot; 1994 - sweet corn. |
| Seedbed preparation: | Disked on April 24. Multiweeded (field cultivated) on April 24 to incorporate fertilizer and smooth the seedbed. |
| Planting: | Drilled barley cover crop on April 25 (1 bu/acre, 6-inch rows). Direct seeded onions on April 25 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 parallel to the barley cover crop. Sprayed Fusilade + COC on May 29 (1 pt/acre + 1 pt/25 gal) and on June 4 (12 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 23, 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 50 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 on April 24. Fertigated 52 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 on July 11. |
| Irrigation: | Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed. |
| Pest control: | Weeds were controlled with: Buctril (8 oz/acre on May 6); Prowl (1.5 pt/acre on May 27); Buctril and Goal (1.5 and 0.6 pt/acre on June 13); and hand weeding. Bravo (2 pt/acre on Aug 5) and Dithane (2.2 qt/acre on Aug 20) controlled purple blotch. No insect control needed. |
| Harvest: | Pulled onions from Sept 22 to Sept 25. Onions were allowed to dry in the field until the first part of October, when they were bagged. The tops were removed and onions graded on Oct 25. |
Pinnacle, Santos, Oro Grande, Golden Cascade, Vega, Burgos, and Augustus were the top hybrids. Pinnacle and Oro Grande also had the highest percentage of single centers.
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Table 17. Maturity, stand, and percent single centers for onions in the Oakes Irrigation Research Station 1997 hybrid onion performance trial.
| Hybrid | Seed source† | Days to half-down‡ | Single centers | Number of bulbs (by size) | ||
| > 3" | 2¼ to 3" | total | ||||
| % | --------------- 1000s per acre -------- | |||||
| Norstar | NH (AT) | 123 | 20 | 27 | 58 | 111 |
| Capable | NH (SS) | 128 | 15 | 43 | 45 | 105 |
| Stanley | PE | 128 | 5 | 30 | 43 | 93 |
| Tenshin | SC | 128 | 40 | 36 | 48 | 94 |
| Athos | VL | 130 | 70 | 18 | 74 | 121 |
| Copra | NH (BZ) | 130 | 20 | 21 | 66 | 105 |
| Brown Beauty | NH (FM) | 131 | 35 | 38 | 53 | 124 |
| Golden Cascade | NH (SS) | 132 | 35 | 67 | 27 | 112 |
| Lexington | PE | 132 | 0 | 30 | 19 | 70 |
| Livingston | PE | 132 | 45 | 44 | 58 | 123 |
| Fury | AS | 133 | 50 | 47 | 35 | 106 |
| V.L. 221 | VL | 133 | 5 | 61 | 34 | 119 |
| Pinnacle | NH (PS) | 134 | 60 | 68 | 45 | 133 |
| Mercury | NH (PS) | 135 | 45 | 59 | 22 | 98 |
| Viper | AS | 135 | 40 | 52 | 41 | 113 |
| Vega | AS | 136 | 40 | 68 | 38 | 123 |
| Santos | VL | 138 | 15 | 76 | 24 | 115 |
| Augustus | FM | 139 | 45 | 60 | 48 | 136 |
| Burgos | VL | 139 | 20 | 64 | 51 | 134 |
| Madrid | PE | 139 | 30 | 57 | 27 | 100 |
| Oro Grande | FM | 140 | 65 | 60 | 48 | 133 |
| LSD(0.05) | 4 | 26 | 12 | 14 | 20 | |
| C.V.(%) | 2 | 55 | 18 | 23 | 13 | |
†See appendix A for source codes.
‡Number of days from planting until half of the plant tops
had fallen over. This is an indication of maturity.
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Table 18. Onion yields in the Oakes Irrigation Research Station 1997 onion hybrid performance trial. Hybrids listed in order of maturity.
| Hybrid | Seed source† | Onion yield (by bulb size) |
||||
| >4" | 3 to 4" | 2¼ to 3" | <2¼ | total | ||
| --------------------------------- cwt per acre ----------------------------- | ||||||
| Norstar | NH (AT) | 0 | 156 | 205 | 36 | 411 |
| Capable | NH (SS) | 2 | 269 | 168 | 14 | 499 |
| Stanley | PE | 3 | 187 | 150 | 29 | 382 |
| Tenshin | SC | 0 | 221 | 188 | 22 | 449 |
| Athos | VL | 0 | 105 | 279 | 48 | 439 |
| Copra | NH (BZ) | 0 | 116 | 244 | 26 | 401 |
| Brown Beauty | NH (FM) | 5 | 251 | 187 | 37 | 529 |
| Golden Cascade | NH (SS) | 50 | 459 | 104 | 15 | 680 |
| Lexington | PE | 16 | 199 | 67 | 14 | 359 |
| Livingston | PE | 3 | 273 | 222 | 29 | 546 |
| Fury | AS | 8 | 310 | 132 | 17 | 531 |
| V.L. 221 | VL | 11 | 395 | 124 | 21 | 608 |
| Pinnacle | NH (PS) | 3 | 486 | 172 | 15 | 737 |
| Mercury | NH (PS) | 36 | 375 | 83 | 12 | 547 |
| Viper | AS | 21 | 346 | 152 | 22 | 578 |
| Vega | AS | 28 | 456 | 143 | 11 | 692 |
| Santos | VL | 71 | 492 | 88 | 8 | 720 |
| Augustus | FM | 17 | 395 | 176 | 25 | 670 |
| Burgos | VL | 3 | 418 | 193 | 13 | 693 |
| Madrid | PE | 17 | 400 | 105 | 11 | 584 |
| Oro Grande | FM | 28 | 400 | 178 | 17 | 694 |
| LSD(0.05) | 19 | 86 | 53 | 14 | 99 | |
| C.V.(%) | 89 | 19 | 24 | 46 | 13 | |
†See appendix A for source codes.
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Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials
Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1997 annual report