Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Carrington Research Extension Center
North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2744, FAX: (701) 742-2700, E-mail: Walter.Albus@ndsu.edu

 

ONION HYBRID PERFORMANCE TRIAL

W. Albus, L. Besemann and H. Eslinger

 

            Onions grow well in North Dakota.  Growers are producing mostly yellow sweet Spanish onions and some storage onions.  This study evaluated 23 onion hybrids.

 

Results summary  

Table 20.  Early stand, maturity, and quality of onions in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2006 onion performance trial.

Table 21.  Yield and total onions in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2006 onion hybrid performance trial.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

 

Soil:

Embden loam; pH=6.6; 2.7% organic matter; soil-P, soil-K and soil-S were very high.

Previous crops:

2005 - cabbage; 2004 – field corn; 2003 - onion.

Seedbed preparation:

Fall disk.  Multiweed (field cultivate) twice; once on April 12 to incorporate fertilizer and once on April 17 to smooth seed bed.

Planting:

Direct seeded onions (220,000 seeds/acre) on April 17 with a Monosem precision planter.  Planted onions with 2 lines per row, 2.5 inches between lines, with the rows on 16-inch centers.

Plots:

Plots were 3 ft (two rows) wide by 17 ft long.  The study had 4 reps.

Fertilizer:

On April 10, broadcast 20 lbs N/acre, 45 lbs P2O5/acre, 51 lbs K2O/acre and 13 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, 11-52-0 and 0-0-60 and applied 50 lbs N/acre as 28‑0-0 on April 12.  Stream-bar 30 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0 on June 7, June 21 and July 11.

Irrigation:

Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed.

Pest control:

Weeds were controlled with: Dacthal (10 lbs/acre on April 25), Fusilade plus NIS (18 oz/acre + 0.5% v/v on May 18), Buctril (4 oz/acre on May 30 and June 7), Buctril + Goal (1 pt/acre + 0.6 pt/acre on June 18) and hand weeding.  No insect control needed.

Harvest:

Onions were pulled on September 7 and were allowed to field dry until September 11 when they were bagged and moved to a shed.  Onions were graded September 18 to September 26.

RESULTS

 

            Sedona had the highest total yield, highest marketable yield, highest yield in three to four inch onions and had the best overall score.  Pinnacle was the highest yielding

variety in onions greater than four inches.   The variety 7200 was not harvested because of an inadequate stand.

 

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Table 20.  Early stand, maturity, and quality of onions in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2006 onion performance trial.

 

Seed

Early

Days to

Single

 

Overall

Brix

Hybrid

source1

stand

half-down2

Centers

Uniformity

score

score3

 

 

1000s plt/acre

 

%

1 to 5

1 to 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7200

NU

21.6

 

 

 

 

 

7404

NU

63.9

111

93

3.3

6.8

10.9

7405

NU

64.1

118

85

3.5

7.3

11.4

Calibra

BE

55.3

115

  0

3.5

7.0

10.8

Caveat (EX8117)

SM

67.1

119

30

3.6

7.4

11.5

Citation (EX70004)

SM

77.1

113

40

3.1

7.0

11.1

Cowboy

BE

81.6

112

25

3.0

6.8

10.3

Crockett

BE

84.3

132

35

3.8

8.0

10.8

Damascus (EX8112)

SM

50.6

122

20

3.5

7.2

11.9

Infinity

NU

97.0

120

60

3.9

8.4

11.4

Montero

NU

79.6

124

85

3.4

7.1

  9.9

Nebula

NU

89.5

118

65

3.5

7.8

11.2

NIZ-3748

VL

76.9

112

15

3.3

6.5

10.5

Pinnacle

SM

65.8

113

15

3.5

7.9

10.6

Red Bull

BE

69.0

126

20

3.2

6.7

11.4

Redline

BE

75.6

111

13

3.5

6.7

10.1

Safrane

BE

87.3

118

15

3.6

7.9

10.8

Sedona

BE

79.4

124

80

4.1

8.6

11.5

T-817

AT

73.0

113

80

3.5

6.5

11.0

Talon

BE

93.7

116

27

3.7

7.9

11.0

Teton

SM

74.7

117

40

3.3

7.0

11.0

Tioga

SM

68.7

123

33

3.4

7.0

  9.3

XP 7001

SM

78.0

117

30

3.3

7.0

12.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LSD (0.05)

 

24.6

6

24

0.5

1.0

1.3

C.V. (%)

 

23.9

3

42

9.2

9.9

8.6

1See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

2Days from planting to when half the onion tops had fallen over.  This is an indication of maturity.

3Brix score measures soluble solids and usually relates to sweetness – higher equals sweeter.

 

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Table 21.  Yield and total onions in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 2006 onion hybrid performance trial.

 

Seed

Onion yield  (by bulb size)

Total

Hybrid

Source1

>4"

3.5-4"

3-3.5"

2.25-3"

<2.25"

Total

Doubles

Culls

bulbs

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- cwt/acre --------------------------------------------------

1000s/A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7404

NU

40

265

189

57

3

553

0

57

95

7405

NU

27

98

200

98

6

429

0

32

84

Calibra

BE

51

235

151

42

3

480

20

70

82

Caveat (EX8117)

SM

51

224

131

72

3

480

0

35

80

Citation (EX70004)

SM

19

145

171

102

7

444

0

86

98

Cowboy

BE

19

80

125

119

17

360

6

47

94

Crockett

BE

27

193

251

93

4

568

0

30

101

Damascus (EX8112)

SM

34

114

137

58

3

346

0

42

66

Infinity

NU

24

216

258

101

8

607

3

21

111

Montero

NU

98

227

131

47

3

505

0

106

89

Nebula

NU

10

144

239

113

7

512

0

32

105

NIZ-3748

VL

0

34

199

171

10

414

0

8

101

Pinnacle

SM

115

210

129

56

6

517

0

31

84

Red Bull

BE

36

154

191

85

5

470

4

19

85

Redline

BE

13

87

203

115

9

426

6

39

101

Safrane

BE

31

176

256

90

5

558

11

31

101

Sedona

BE

114

305

176

37

3

635

12

35

92

T-817

AT

0

61

185

186

13

445

0

18

110

Talon

BE

32

196

236

115

12

591

2

14

111

Teton

SM

66

192

118

90

9

475

3

59

90

Tioga

SM

45

183

128

69

1

426

1

60

79

XP 7001

SM

2

30

151

189

16

387

0

12

98

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LSD (0.05)

 

51

92

94

61

10

165

8

33

31

C.V. (%)

 

93

40

37

45

97

24

184

58

24

1See Appendix A for a list of seed sources.

 

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