• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2011

The bulb storability of eight red and ten yellow onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars grown primarily in Korea was evaluated. During storage, sprouting occurred earlier in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. In addition, the ratio of sprouted to unsprouted bulbs increased more rapidly in red cultivars than in yellow cultivars. However, not all yellow cultivars had strong storabilities. Bulb storability of three yellow cultivars was as poor as that of red cultivars, suggesting only a slight possibility of a pleiotropic effect of color and bulb storability. Meanwhile, $F_3$ lines of a red cultivar selected based on stronger storabilities showed intermediate storabilities between those of the red and yellow cultivars, implying that strong storability could be obtained by successive selection. In contrast, $F_1$ hybrids from crosses between yellow and red breeding lines showed poor storability compared with the yellow cultivars, indicating that poor storability may be dominant over strong storability. The relationships between color and other traits that potentially affect storability, such as fresh and dry weight, water content, and firmness of bulbs, were evaluated. No significant differences in these traits were observed between the two colors, although the water content of yellow cultivars and the dry weight of red cultivars were slightly higher than their counterparts. Correlation analyses between bulb storability and other traits, including weight, water content, and firmness, also showed no significant correlations. In this study, no correlations were identified between bulb color, storability, and other traits. However, based on these results, red cultivars with stronger storabilities could be developed through successive selection of bulbs with stronger storabilities.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2009

Bulb onion cultivation area has been restricted in southern part of Korea to avoid blotting and bulb division. The traditional culture method is transplanting bare-rooted plantlet into the field at the end of summer and harvesting at the beginning of next summer. The hot weather and weak plantlets occasionally causes unstable supply of onions in autumn. In order to enlarge cultivation area and to reduce culture period, long nursery system using plug tray and spring transplanting was tried. Forty cultivars collected from Korea and Japan were nursed using 200-plug tray and transplanted to the field in spring. Marketable yield was not related to the seedling size but lodging time. Cultivar of 'Hamasodachi' was lodged early and resulted low marketable yield. Cultivar of 'Cheonjudaego' was not lodged and yielded high but not in accordance with storability. Generally early lodged cultivars showed low storability. In order to avoid rainy harvesting season, cultivars requires excessive long time for lodging is not recommended for spring culture. Using plug nursery and spring transplanting, we successfully produced marketable onions in 3 months. But immediate using of the harvested onion is recommended. The storability of produced onions showed different result among cultivars, storage of spring onion was not recommended.