A promising multiplier onion (Allium cepa) line with field resistance to majour fungal diseases and possesing moderate flowering efficiency

Series of experiments were conducted with more than thirty cluster onion land races to characterize, evaluate and to screen for major fungal diseases in two locations since the year 2002. Characterization and their agronomic evaluation lead to group these entries as shallots and multipliers. Multipliers produced more than 30 t/ha and ranged in their maturity from 63 to 81 days with minor seasonal differences in these traits. Among these entries one promising multiplier line performed well and was termed as TVM-6 with an average yield of 28.0 t/ha with 70 days maturity. Field screening for anthracnose and the bulb rot disease proved that the line TVM-6 had moderately resistant behavior to both the diseases in the field under complete absence of fungicide in both the locations. While others were susceptible or highly susceptible for the diseases tested, TVM-6 showed significantly higher response to vernalization in flowering in miner season while it flowered even without vernalization in majour season and produced more productive flowers than that of others. Therefore the line TVM-6 could be rated as a promising one with many desirable traits and this could be promoted for direct cultivation after adaptability testing and also could be effectively utilized as a promising breeding material for future cluster onion breeding programmes.