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AVRDC vegetable breeders in West Africa search for the perfect onion - Rouge Violet: A color for all seasons?

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March 27, 2009

Source: AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center Newsletter

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops in the world. Although onion is a popular crop in rural and urban Africa, yields are relatively low: 5 million tonnes on 312,840 hectares, compared with global production of 64,475 million tonnes on 3,451,455 hectares. Widespread reliance on old varieties and imported seed often poorly adapted to local conditions constrain yield. One major factor limiting the availability of onion in the region is poor shelf life. Good storage qualities are critical for a crop that produces only one harvest a year.

“The major factors affecting onion production in Africa include diseases and pests, and the lack of high-yielding, disease- and pestresistant varieties with long shelf life, but long shelf life clearly begins with high quality seed,” says Dr. Albert Rouamba, vegetable breeder and onion specialist of AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center’s office in Bamako, Mali. His work on improving the performance of onion in West Africa is part of the Center’s
Vegetable Breeding and Seed Systems for Poverty Reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (vBSS) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. vBSS builds on the Center’s long record of developing improved vegetable
varieties, and its experience in working with national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and the private sector.

To assess the performance and potential of improved onion varieties under West African climate and soil conditions, the team conducted field trials at the Center’s Samanko station during Mali’s cool and dry winter season. “We were especially interested in short-day varieties for adaptability, yield, and storage, and chose eight onion varieties from seed companies and NARES,” says Dr. Rouamba. ‘Violet de Galmi,’ currently the best onion variety cultivated in West Africa, was used as a check.

Field trial yields ranged between 11 and 30 t/ha. ‘Rouge Violet de Tarna’, a line of ‘Violet de Galmi’ from a small village in Niger, yielded highest, with 30 t/ha. Unlike the other high-yielding varieties, ‘Rouge Violet de Tarna’
also stored very well: Around 90 percent of commercial bulbs were marketable after six months’ storage. “In all our trials we found that ‘Rouge Violet de Tarna’ and ‘Red Bone’ were the best varieties in terms of production and storage,” Dr. Rouamba noted. “However, we will continue our evaluations of short-day onion varieties, and we will intercross productive varieties with varieties that demonstrate good storage qualities to develop composite populations for further tests.” ‘Rouge Violet de Tarna’ has large, dark violet bulbs. Violet could become a color for all seasons.

 

 

 

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