S01 - Session O10 - Onion (Allium cepa L) hybrid breeding in India: Status and prospects

Authors: Hira Singh *, Anil Khar

Bulb onion ( Allium cepa L. 2n=2x=16), a member of the Amaryllidaceae family, is an imperative spice and condiment vegetable crop and is consumed in almost all Indian houses. Onion is supposed to be the earliest domesticated species that possesses various health-promoting properties,such as being anti-hypertensive, lipid-lowering, anti-diabetic, immune-protective, anti-microbial and anti-obesity. Since antiquity, Indian farmers mainly cultivated onion bulbs for culinary purposes to augment flavor and for raw consumption. The demand for onion in India is increasing day by day, owing to heightened awareness among the people of its health benefits. Indian onion cultivators depend only on open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) because the hybrid breeding program in this important cash crop has not gained pace. The development of F 1 hybrids for enhancing productivity and tolerance towards various abiotic and biotic stresses has been emphasized since the 1960s. However, hybrid breeding has been less exploited in onion with regard to Indian conditions as compared to other countries like the US, Japan, Korea, etc. Hybrids are quite popular among onion growers worldwide due to their high yielding ability with uniform bulb size, and morphological and maturity traits. The development of commercial hybrids in onion principally depends on the availability of suitable inbred lines along with a stable male sterile system. The future scope of commercial onion hybrids needs to identify stable male sterile lines (CMS lines) from the Indian onion population by comprehensively using modern molecular techniques. Molecular markers distinguishing cytoplasm and linked to the restorer of male sterility, Ms locus, are important. The release of commercial hybrids from the public sector would have an immense impact on breaking yield barriers and be a significant enhancement of onion productivity under a changing climate scenario and soaring domestic demand. Besides this, income of farmers could be enhanced considerably, which will ultimately enhance their livelihood.