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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences - Vol. 11, No. 6
Publication Date: December 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/dafs.116.16045.
Luhan, A. H., Ali, M. A., Islam, M. R., Auyon, S. T., Rabbi, S. K. M. F., Kundo, D., Nitu, T. T., & Kabir, H. (2023). Effect of Elevated
Temperature and Ethyl Methane Sulfonate on the Growth and Yield Attributes of Summer Onion (Allium cepa L). Discoveries in
Agriculture and Food Sciences, 11(6). 55-66.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Effect of Elevated Temperature and Ethyl Methane Sulfonate on
the Growth and Yield Attributes of Summer Onion (Allium cepa L)
Asif Hasnath Luhan
Department of Environmental Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
Muhammad Aslam Ali
Department of Environmental Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
Md Rafiqul Islam
Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture,
Bangladesh Agricultural University Campus, Mymensingh-2202
Shah Tasdika Auyon
Department of Environmental Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
SK Md. Fazlay Rabbi
Department of Environmental Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
Deboki Kundo
Department of Environmental Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
Tazbeen Tabara Nitu
Department of Soil Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University Campus, Mymensingh-2202
Humayun Kabir
Department of Seed Science,
Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202
ABSTRACT
Onion cultivation during summer wet season faces problems in seedlings raising
and difficulties in management practices in the main field, which is a great concern.
Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) is a chemical mutagen which helps to develop
desirable mutant by point mutation. The present experiment was carried out at the
Horticulture field laboratory of BINA, Mymensingh during the period July to
October, 2019 to investigate the effect of ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) for
developing desirable mutants of onion under ambient and elevated temperature
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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 11, Issue 6, December- 2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
conditions. In this experiment five different doses of EMS viz., 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%
and 2% were applied on onion seeds and the treated seedlings were grown under
ambient and elevated temperature conditions. The experiments were conducted
following Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in field and Completely
Randomized Design (CRD) in pot experiment under greenhouse condition. In the
field trial, under ambient condition total leaf area, leaf area index, chlorophyll
content and total bulb yield were significantly influenced by different
concentrations of EMS. At ambient temperature, the highest bulb length (6.52 cm)
and diameter (5.04 cm), single bulb weight (38.3 g) and total bulb yield (14.95 t/ha)
were recorded with 0.5% EMS application, which decreased with further increasing
concentrations of EMS (1.0-2.0%). On the contrary, the above yield parameters and
total bulb yield were decreased under elevated temperature condition (+ 2oC
higher than ambient) irrespective of EMS concentrations. Above all, the interaction
effects of temperature and EMS concentrations on onion seeds germination,
seedling growth and yield components were found non-significant. Conclusively,
growth and yield attributes of summer onion may be enhanced by applying
chemical mutagen EMS at 0.5% under ambient field condition, however elevated
temperature (+ 2oC higher than ambient) in the changing environment could badly
affect the yield of summer onion at all levels of EMS applied.
Keywords: EMS, elevated temperature, Mutant, bulb yield, summer onion.
INTRODUCTION
Onion (Allium cepa L.), being one of the important spices and condiments, belongs to the family
Liliaceae. The edible part of onion is green leaves, immature and mature bulbs. Being a biennial
species, it takes more time to improve this crop by conventional methods such as hybridization,
recombination and selection [1]. Bangladesh largely depends on locally produced winter onion,
being recorded 1.8 million metric tons (BBS, 2019), which meets only one fifth of the total
requirement of the country [2]. However, the country needs to import onion about 10 lac MT
annually from different countries due to storage loss, production shortage and the use of onion
bulbs for onion production. Moreover, increasing storage facility is a costly and time-consuming
endeavor. Therefore, producing onions in off season is the viable solution.
In Bangladesh, onion is mainly cultivated during October to march. The demand for onions in
Bangladesh is growing steadily in conjunction with the population growth and rising per capita
income. The country requires about 25 lakh tonnes of onion each year, according to an estimate
by the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, however, a big portion of the vegetables are
lost due to lacking of proper storage facilities, resulting in a shortfall of the bulb onion during
the lean period. Severe scarcity of onion bulbs is seen from August to March in the vegetable
markets which are fulfilled by import mainly from neighbouring countries. Therefore, off
season summer onion production may become a major landmark in overall onion production
and supply chain, which will reduce annual import cost. Summer onion cultivation can be a new
way to increase the onion production in Bangladesh and make it available throughout the year.
Bangladesh is mostly vulnerable to climate change, which has been affected overall agricultural
production [3]. Although onion may be grown under diverse environmental conditions,
however the summer-planting of onion could be difficult due to production of seedlings for the
transplant [4].
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Luhan, A. H., Ali, M. A., Islam, M. R., Auyon, S. T., Rabbi, S. K. M. F., Kundo, D., Nitu, T. T., & Kabir, H. (2023). Effect of Elevated Temperature and
Ethyl Methane Sulfonate on the Growth and Yield Attributes of Summer Onion (Allium Cepa L). Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 11(6).
55-66.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.116.16045
Increasing temperature and uneven rainfall patterns may affect onion production in
Bangladesh. During the summer, high temperature and heavy rainfall coincide, which makes
the management difficult to grow onions in open field condition, excessive accumulation of
water in the root system, root diseases and weed infestation, thereby the onion plant becomes
less competitive. Therefore, the off-season onion production will be the best alternative to
substitute the imports and reduce the higher demand of onion bulb during the lean period of
production. Unfortunately, very little attention has been given to the improvement of onion
either through selection, hybridization and induced mutation using gamma rays or chemical
mutagens in Bangladesh. Chemicals induce mainly point mutations, and are thus ideal for
producing missense and nonsense mutations, which would provide a series of change-of- function mutations. Ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) is a mutagenic and carcinogenic organic
compound, which is considered to be the best chemical mutagen to create point mutations in
genetic material by single nucleotide substitution; particularly through G: C to A: T transitions
induced by guanine alkylation in plants [5]. To date there is no research findings available on
the combined effect of EMS and temperature on the growth and yield of summer onion in
Bangladesh. Therefore, this research experiment was undertaken to investigate the growth and
yield components of summer onion with EMS application under the ambient and elevated
temperature conditions.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The experiment was carried out in the field Laboratory of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear
Agriculture (BINA), Mymensingh during (Kharif II season of 2019 -2020). The experiment was
conducted to investigate the growth and yield attributes of Allium cepa influenced by different
growing conditions like ambient and elevated temperature with different concentrations of
Ethyl Methane Sulphonate (EMS).
Experimental Site, Climatic Conditions and Field Preparation
The experiment was located at 24°N Latitude, 94° E Longitude at a mean elevation of 1m above
the sea level belonging to the Non-Calcareous Dark Gray Floodplain soil under the Old
Brahmaputra Floodplain, AEZ 9. The climate of the experimental area is under the sub-tropical
climate which is characterized by high temperature, high humidity and heavy precipitation
with gusty wind from (April to September) and scanty rainfall associated with moderately low
temperature during (October to March). The land was Inceptisols, medium high land, above
flood level and firm in consistence, when dry. The soil lies on the alluvial deposits of
Brahmaputra River. The soil of the experimental field belongs to Sonatola Series. The land is
moderately well drained with a sandy loam texture and soil pH value 6.7. The initial soil organic
carbon, T-N, and available P contents were1.13%, 0.22% and 70 ppm.
Experimental Materials, Treatments and Design
Seeds of BARI Onion-5 variety were collected from Horticulture Division, BINA, Mymensingh.
Dry and uniform seeds were pre-soaked in double distilled water for 9 hours at room
temperature (24±2°C). Seeds were manually shaken after every two hours to ensure the
uniform soaking. For EMS treatment, pre-soaked seeds were treated with 0 (control), 0.5%,
1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% v/v freshly prepared aqueous solution in double distilled water for 1.5
hours and kept at 25°C temperature in an incubator shaker. After mutagen treatment, seeds