Bulb vernalization in onion seed production at submédio São Francisco region

Abstract

Bulbs of five onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars were submitted to six different artificial vernalization periods to identify the minimum time necessary to induce flowering and to explore the seed production potencial under the climatic conditions of the submédio São Francisco region, Brazil. The statistical analysis of the seed production results indicated differences between cultivars, vernalization periods and for the interaction cultivar x vernalization periods. As the cultivars showed a tendency to increase seed production with the increasing vernalization periods, it is supposed that the maximum time required for each cultivar is above 75 days.