Effect of management practices to tackle tip drying in small onion due to dew drops in NICRA Village of Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, India

In Vadavathur village, small onion is cultivated in two main seasons viz., Early kharif and Rabi in an area of 425 ha with a productivity of 14 tonnes / ha. Small onion is mainly affected by dew drops during the month of November to January, where the minimum temperature falls between 12 to 140C for 17 days and caused tip drying. Presence of dew drops in tip of onion leaf sheath for a long time may lead to death of terminal leaf tissue resulted in tip drying and also reduction in yield of 0.7 to 2 tonnes / ha. The tip drying of small onion due to dew drops was controlled in Vadavathur village under NICRA scheme by three methods viz., spraying of water through mobile sprinkler (T3) and by using rope method (T2) and without spray (T1).