The Effect of Cultivation Method on the Macronutrients Content of Shallot Bulbs (Allium Ascalonicum L.)

A field experiments were carried out in 2005-2007 at the Experimental Station of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The experiments were set up in a split-plot design, in four replications. Plants were grown in typical black earth soil of quality class IIIb, cereal-fodder strong complex. The first experimental factor was the cultivation method. In the first year of the study, shallot were grown by direct seeding and from seedlings, while small bulbs (Ø 16-20 mm) were additionally introduced in the second year of the experiment. Cultivars were the second experimental factor. The analyzed material consisted of two hybrid shallot cultivars: Bonilla F₁ and Matador F₁. A total of 100 plants were grown in experimental plots with an area of 3 m², with 30 × 10 cm spacing.

Shallots were harvested when the foliage on approximately 60 to 70% of plants have collapsed. Plant material (bulbs) was assayed for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium concentrations. The highest total nitrogen levels were determined in shallot bulbs grown from seedlings, while shallots bulbs grown from seeds were most abundant in phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Significantly higher nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were observed in the bulbs of cv. Matador F₁, while Bonilla F₁ bulbs showed significantly higher levels of potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Favorable Ca:Mg ratios, narrow Ca:P ratios and wide K:Mg, K:(Ca+Mg) and K:Ca ratios were noted in all experimental variants.