Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Phone: (701) 742-2744, FAX: (701) 742-2700, E-mail:										Blaine.Schatz@ndsu.edu
										Leonard.Besemann@ndsu.edu

Onion Hybrid Performance Trial
L. Besemann and H. Eslinger

Onions have done well under irrigation in North Dakota. Yellow sweet Spanish is the predominate type grown. This study tested 21 varieties: sixteen sweet Spanish hybrids, two red hybrids and three white hybrids.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Soil:	Embden sandy loam; pH = 7.2; 2.1% organic matter; soil N 34 lbs/acre; soil P, soil K and soil S were very high.
Previous crop:	2014 – soybean.
Seedbed preparation:	Spring conventional tillage.
Planting:	Direct seeded onions (250,000 seeds/acre) April 15 with a Monosem precision planter. Onions were planted two lines per row with 2.5 inches between lines. The rows were on 16 inch centers.
Plots:	Plots were 3 ft (two rows) wide by 17 ft long. The study had four replications.
Fertilizer:	Broadcast 8 lbs N/acre, 42 lbs P2O5/acre, 48 lbs K2O/acre and 10 lbs S/acre as 9 21 24-6 April 10. Stream bar 30 lbs N/acre June 3, June 29, July 2 and July 24 as 28 0 0.
Irrigation:	Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed.
Pest control:	Moxy 2E (4 oz/acre) May 26, Moxy 2E (16 oz/acre) June 4, Section 2EC (8 oz/acre) + COC (1.0% v/v) June 17, Moxy 2E (1.5 pt/acre) + Goal Tender (4 oz/acre) June 23, and hand weeding for weed control.
Harvest:	Pulled all onions September 28 and September 30 and left to field dry/cure. Onions were bagged October 1 and October 2. Onions were graded November 20 to December 8.
RESULTS
SV6672NW had the highest yield overall with a diameter in the 3- to 4-inch range. Antarctica and Spanish Medallion had the highest yield of onions greater than four inches. With the exception of BGS 322 and 503 (316 cwt/acre and 319 cwt/acre, respectively), total yields ranged from 439 cwt/acre to 989 cwt/acre with a mean of 695 cwt/acre (728 cwt/acre if the two low-yielding varieties were disregarded).

Table 1. Onion hybrid performance trial at the Oakes Irrigation Research Site in 2015.
	Seed	Maturity¹	Half							Single	Total
Hybrid	Source	Days	down	>4"	3 to 4"	2¼ to 3"	1 to 2¼"	Total	Culls	Center	Bulbs
				---------------------cwt--------------------------						%	/ac

BGS 322	Bejo		24-Aug	6	61	165	80	316	4	45	145584
Calibra	Bejo	115	26-Aug	16	459	175	39	711	22	85	158557
Calibra	Bejo BV²	115	26-Aug	25	448	167	35	711	36	40	153753
Crockett	Bejo	118	12-Sep	8	493	244	31	797	22	65	177056
Delgado	Bejo	115	9-Sep	39	446	135	20	671	32	70	128528
Hamilton	Bejo	118	3-Sep	6	544	175	30	764	10	65	160720
Hamilton	Bejo BV	118	5-Sep	32	516	160	24	743	12	80	148708
Legend	Bejo	118	2-Sep	8	482	238	42	802	33	45	178497
Red Bull	Bejo BV	115	7-Sep	10	404	257	49	724	5	80	178497
Sedona	Bejo	120	5-Sep	23	584	157	15	794	15	85	146545
Sedona	Bejo BV	120	1-Sep	34	602	204	28	881	13	95	174173
SV4643NT	Bejo BV		31-Aug	37	448	145	26	667	12	70	143903
Talon	Bejo	110	28-Aug	3	360	206	50	626	8	75	168647
Tamara	Bejo	112	30-Aug	3	317	175	31	527	2	75	127807
503	BV		26-Aug	17	133	66	52	319	51	40	142221
2011	BV		1-Sep	34	557	215	31	844	7	90	169128
Antarctica	BV	115	5-Sep	51	660	140	14	878	14	50	154474
Blizzard	BV		2-Sep	25	555	203	21	827	23	80	163122
Commendable	Seminis BV	115	2-Sep	8	479	238	32	767	10	90	171050
Scimiter	BV		7-Sep	16	202	112	44	439	66	50	134293
Yellow Diamond	BV		30-Aug	32	518	220	35	825	22	75	178978
Spanish Medallion	Sakata BV		31-Aug	48	328	143	56	594	20	80	153993
SV4643NT	Seminis		27-Aug	44	462	180	34	732	13	95	166966
SV6672NW	Seminis	116	27-Aug	45	690	217	35	989	3	90	194833
Champ	Solar Seeds		24-Aug	0	154	223	58	440	6	85	140059

Mean			1-Sep	23	436	182	36	695	18	72	158403
C.V.(%)			0	88.2	11.1	19.6	23.1	7.4	74.7	31.6	8.2
LSD 0.10			5	23	57	42	10	61	16	NS	15335
LSD 0.05			6.0	NS	68	50	12	72	19	NS	18346

Planted April 15; pulled/harvested September 29; previous crop = soybean.
Fertilizer lbs/acre: 145 N, 44 P, 47 K, 19 S; Irrigation = 7.45 inches
¹Maturity given by seed supplier.
²BV supplied by Barry Vculek, all seed primed.

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