Effects of nutritionals sources, mode of storage and post harvest losses on yield and economic returns in onions (Allium cepa L)

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of fertilizer sources and storage containers on the proficiency of onion. Four treatments namely; wood ash, guano, NPK and no fertilizer were laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The result indicated that NPK fertilizer source had the highest bulb yield of 27.43t / ha and the highest net farm income of #626,600 t / ha, even though there was no significant difference. In another development, 20 randomly selected onion bulbs from each of these fertilizer sources were kept in three storage containers (open air with no container, black polythene bag and yellow polythene bag). The result indicated that NPK fertilizer source had the earliest and fastest deterioration rate as well as highest post harvest deterioration of 70 % while wood ash had the least and slowest deterioration rate and eventually the lowest post harvest deterioration of 10 %. It was also observed that black polythene bag container gave the highest post harvest deterioration of 50 % while open air (no container) gave the lowest post harvest deterioration of 25 %. Sequel to these facts therefore, for good post harvest keeping quality in onion bulbs, wood ash and or guano fertilizer source s) remains sustainable substitute for inorganic fertilizer such as NPK. Also, storage media / containers should be selected carefully because, onion bulbs have been found to possess longer shelf life in open and airy medium. Keywords : Nutrient source, storage containers, post-harvest losses and profitability Nigerian Journal of Horticultural Science Vol. 9 2005: 17-21