Evaluation of Onion (Allium cepa L.) Genotypes and Crosses for Nutritional Parameters

Abstract

Onion is a member of the family Liliaceae and it is an important part of our daily diet. Onion bulb is most important for its nutritional and pharmaceutical contents in maintaining human body metabolism and body development. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the nutritional parameters among different onion genotypes and their crosses due to their significant importance in the human diet and plants. This study was done in an experimental area of PMAS, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan by using 22 genotypes and 18 crossed seed. Four traits were studied i.e. Pyruvic acid, Vitamin C, Phenolic content, and flavonoid content. Results describe that dark color bulbs contain more pyruvic acid, Vitamin-C, and flavonoid content due to positive correlation between them but light color bulbs are rich with phenolic content due to positive correlation between them. And, it is possible to develop hybrids having high flavonoid and phenolic content from parents having high content too. But, in the case of pyruvic acid and vitamin-C content, it is not possible and improvement is only possible by selection among parental genotypes. It shows that bulb color and selection among parents and their generation play a key role in the improvement of the nutritional content of onion.