INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ISSN: 2309-7892, Page: 95-97, Volume 01, Issue 02, January-March 2014
Review Paper
INFLUENCE OF EARTHING UP ON JAPANESE BUNCH ONION (ALLIUM FISTULOSUM
L.) CV. MOTO KURA

M.F. Mahmud, M.S. Islam, H. Mehraj, K. Ahsan and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin*1

M.F. Mahmud, M.S. Islam, H. Mehraj, K. Ahsan and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin (2014). Influence of Earthling up on Japanese
Bunch Onion (Allium fistulosum L.) cv. Moto Kura. Int. J. Bus., Soc. and Sci. Res. 01(02):95-97. Retrieve from
http://www.ijbssr.com/currentissueview/13090116

Received Date: 26/01/2014 Acceptance Date: 01/02/2014 Published Date: 08/02/2014

Abstract
The study was conducted in the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from December 2011 to May
2012 to find out the influence of earthing up on growth and yield of Japanese
bunch onion (Moto kura). Three levels of earthing up viz. E0: No earthing up;
E1: Earthing up (once) and E2: Earthing up (twice) was set at the experiment
following Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Tallest
plant (60.4 cm) with maximum number of leaves (8.4), leaf area (334.7 cm2)
and maximum weight of leaves/plant (80.5 g) were found from E2. On the other
hand, longest pseudostem (13.2 cm), maximum diameter of pseudostem (20.5
mm), maximum weight of pseudostem (28.8 g), highest yield/plot (2.88 kg) and
highest yield/hectare (14.4 ton) was found from E2. E1 was statistically similar
with the E2 and E0 provided least result in each parameters.

Key words: Earthing up, Japanese bunch onion, yield.

Introduction
Welsh onion or Negi or Japanese bunch onion (Allium fistulosum L.) belongs to the
Ameryllidaceae family (Fritsch and Friesen, 2002) can easily be grown in any kind of well
drained and organic matter rich soil (Maryati and Isnaini, 2011). Production of negi is very
similar to the onion also in taste and flavor. Earthing up is an important part of the growing
process that involves drawing mounds of soil up around the plant to prevent turning green and
poisonous below ground part. Earthing up will ensure enough foliage to allow the plant to carry
on growing strongly the below ground developing plant parts. Earthing up gave significantly
higher yields of seed and were sized tubers than non-earthing up (Mburu, 1985). Proper earthing-
up increases tuber yield (Tesfaye et al., 2013) by creating favorable conditions for tuber initiation
and development and also reduces yield loss (Gebremedhin et al., 2008). Earthing up of soil to the
base of the Negi plant may increase the length and diameter of the underground portion of the
plant and increased the length which is an indication of better quality and higher yield. Kumar and
Gowda (2010) reported that yield, the crop responded significantly due to earthing up.
Considering the above mentioned facts and based on the prior observation, an investigation were
undertaken with the objective to determine the influence of earthing up on the yield of Japanese
bunch onion.
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted at the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh to study the growth and yield response of Japanese bunch onion to earthing up during
the period from December 2011 to May 2012. Moto kura cultivar was used on the experiment.
Seeds were collected from Japan. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block
Design with three replications. The total area was divided into three equal blocks. Each block was
divided into 3 plots where 3 levels of earthing up viz. E0: No earthing up; E1: Earthing up (once)
and E2: Earthing up (twice) was allotted at random. There were 9 unit plots altogether in the
experiment. The size of the each plot was 2.0 m 1.0 m. The distance maintained between two
blocks and two plots were 1.0 m and 0.5 m, respectively. Seeds were sown in field on 15
December 2011 in line with maintaining the distance between line to line 20 cm and plant to plant

*Corresponding Author: jamal4@yahoo.com

Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Mahmud et al. 96

10 cm spacing that maintained through thinning up. Cowdung (10 ton/ha), urea (240 kg/ha), TSP
(220 kg/ha), MP (150 kg/ha) and gypsum (110 kg/ha) were used as recommended by BARI for
onion (Mondal et al., 2011). Entire cowdung, TSP, gypsum, urea and MP were applied
during final land preparation. Rest urea and MP were applied at two installments, 25 and 50
days after sowing. Data were collected on plant height, leaf number, leaf area, pseudostem length,
pseudostem diameter, weight of leaves/plant, weight of pseudostem/plant and yiled/plot also
calculated the yield/ha. Leaf area was measured by using CL 202 leaf area meter and diameter of
pseudostem was measured with a Digital Caliper-515 (DC-515). Yield per hectare of Negi was
calculated by calculating the weight of plot yield into hectare and was expressed in ton. All
parameters were statistically analyzed by using MSTAT-C program. Mean for all the treatments
was calculated, analysis of variance for each of the characters was performed by F-test and
difference between treatments was evaluated by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% level
of significance (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).
Results and Discussion
Current experiment showed that plant height was gradually increased with the increase of the
number of earthing up in Japanese bunch onion (Moto kura). Tallest plant (60.4 cm) were
observed from E2 which was statistically identical with E1 (59.5 cm) while shortest plant from E0
(Fig. 1a). Number of leaves was showed a gradual increase with earthing up frequency. Maximum
number of leaves per plant (8.4) was recorded from E2 which was statistically similar with E1 (8.3)
at 160 DAS (Fig. 1a). On the other hand, the minimum number of leaves per plant was found
from E0 (6.96). Highest leaf area (334.7 cm2) was found from E2 which was statistically identical
with E1 (330.2 cm2) whereas the lowest leaf area from E0 (297.4 cm2) at160 DAS (Fig. 2a).
Maximum weight of leaves per plant was observed from E2 (80.5 g) which was statistically
identical with E1 (79.7 g) while minimum from E0 (74.0 g) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1b). Maximum
weight of pseudostem was found from E2 (28.8 g) which was statistically identical with E1 (28.2
g) whereas minimum from E0 (24.5 g) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1b).
Longest pseudostem was recorded from E2 (13.2 cm) which was statistically identical with E1
(13.2 cm) whereas shortest from E0 (11.7 cm) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1c). Maximum diameter of
pseudostem was found from E2 (20.5 mm) which was statistically identical with E1 (20.4 mm)
while minimum from E0 (19.1 mm) at 160 DAS (Fig. 1c). Earthing up of soil to the base of the
Negi plant may increase diameter of the underground portion of the plant which is an indication
of better quality and higher yield. Kumar and Gowda (2010) reported that yield, the crop
responded significantly due to earthing up. The highest yield per plot was recorded from E2 (2.88
kg) which was statistically identical with E1 (2.82 kg) while lowest from E0 (2.45 kg) (Fig. 2b).
The highest yield per hectare was found from E2 (14.4) which was statistically identical with E1
(14.1) whereas lowest was from E0 (12.3) (Fig. 2b). BARI Onion 1 produce 12-16 ton/ha during
robi season (Mondal et al., 2011).
Conclusion
Considering the findings of present experiment, it may be concluded that twice earthing up was
better in terms of all yield contributing characters and yield of bunch onion.

36.0 84.0
63.0 16.0
Pse u d o stem w e ig h t (g ).

Le a v e s w e ig h t (g ).
Plan t heigh t (cm ).

24.0 56.0
42.0 11.0
L eaf num ber.

12.0 28.0
21.0 6.0

(a) (b)
0.0 0.0
0.0 1.0

http://www.ijbssr.com
Influence of Earthling up on Japanese Bunch Onion 97

21.0 17.0

Pseudostem diameter (mm).

Pseudostem length (cm).

14.0 12.0

7.0 7.0

0.0 (c) 2.0

60 80 100 120 140 160
Days after sowing (DAS)

E0 E1 E2

E0 E1 E2

Fig. 1. Influence the frequency of earthing up on Japanese bunch onion (a) leaf number & plant
height, (b) weight of leaves & pseudostem and (c) pseudostem length & diameter

400.0 15.0 3.5

(a) (b)
14.0 3.0
300.0

Yield (kg)/plot.
Yield (ton)/ha.
Leaf area (cm2)

13.0 2.5
200.0

12.0 2.0

100.0
E0
E1 11.0 1.5
E2 E0 E1 E2
0.0 Earthing up freequency
60 80 100 120 140 160 Yield (ton)/ha Yield (kg)/plot
Days after sowing (DAS)

Fig. 2. Influence the frequency of earthing up on Japanese bunch onion (a) leaf area and (b)
yield/plot & yield/ha

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