Role of Biofertilizer and Chemical Fertilizer for Sustainable Onion (Allium cepa L.) Production

Abstract

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is considered to be a high value cash crop for India and abroad. It is one of the most important vegetable cum spice crop having various uses in everyday cooking. India is 2 nd largest pr oducer next to china. Onion bulbs are rich in minerals like phosphorus , calcium and carbohydrate. It also contains protein and vitamin C. Lo w productivity of onion may be attributed due to poor management effic iency rather than that in the uncontrollable climatic factors. Thus, i t makes it imperative to make a concerted effort to bridge the gap bet ween potential yield and actual yield harvested by the farmers to make onion cultivation more remunerative through better management strateg ic of inputs like nutrient management practices and microbial inoculan ts for better exploitation of yield potentialities. Escalating costs o f chemical fertilizers are hampering our way to produce more per unit area. Moreover, excessive use of inorganic International Journal of Cu rrent Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Numbe r 9 (2017) pp. 2034-2040 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com