Onions and allied crops. Volume II, Agronomy, biotic interactions, pathology, and crop protection

333 Pages·2018·43.904 MB·English

by  Brewster, James L., Rabinowitch, Haim D

Onions
and
Allied Crops
Volume II
Agronomy, Biotic Interactions,
Pathology, and Crop Protection
Editors
Haim D. Rabinowitch, Ph.D.
Chairman
Department of Field and Vegetable Crops
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Rehovot, Israel
James L. Brewster, Dr.Phil.
Principal Scientific Officer
National Vegetable Research Station
AFRC Institute for Horticultural Research
Wellesboume, Warwick, U. K.
Boca Raton London New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Onions and allied crops / editors, Haim D. Rabinowitch, James L. Brewster
p. cm.
Includes bibliographies and index.
ISBN 0-8493-6300-0 (v.1)
ISBN 0-8493-6301-2 (v.2)
ISBN 0-8493-6302-4 (v.3)
1. Onions. 2. Allium. I. Rabinowitch, Haim D. II. Brewster,
James L.
SB341.O62 1990
635’.25 — dc20 89-25330
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INTRODUCTION
The edible alliums are of major economic and dietary importance in all parts of the
world. The common onion (A. cepa) and garlic (A. sativum) are grown, traded and consumed
in most countries (Tables 1 to 3). Because of their economic importance, great efforts have
been made in the selection and breeding of locally adapted cultivars, and in the development
of cultural techniques. As a result these crops can be cultivated from the tropics to subarctic
regions. Other edible alliums are more localized in economic significance although they are
still of great importance.
It is estimated that the value of the world production of bulb onions alone approaches
$5 billion annually, more than 90% of which is consumed within the countries of production.
Bulb onions are an easily transportable commodity and between $400 and $500 millions
worth (at 1984 prices) are traded internationally each year. The crop is a major export earner
for some economies. In addition, the common onion is also an important salad crop when
eaten green (scallions). Statistics on this crop are harder to come by, but by way of example,
in the U.K., the monetary value of this crop is approximately 65% of that of the dry bulb
crop. Leeks (A. ampeloprasum) are a valuable crop in Europe (Table 4). Although total
European production is well below that for bulb onions, the price per unit weight of leeks
is higher than for bulb onions, and in monetary terms the value of the leek crop approaches
that of the dry bulb onion crop. Several other alliums are of major economic importance in
far eastern countries (Table 5). The annual production of the Japanese bunching onion (A.
fistulosum) in Japan is approximately 50% of that for dry bulb common onions. However
the mean wholesale prices (yen per kilogram obtained during the period January 1983 to
December 1985 in Tokyo for common onion, Japanese bunching onion, Chinese chive (A.
tuberosum), and rakkyo (A. chinense), respectively, were 93, 216, 344 and 271.6 Thus the
monetary value of the Japanese bunching onion crop is probably similar to that of the
common bulb onion in Japan. Japanese bunching onion, Chinese chive, and rakkyo are also
important crops in China. 5 Hence, the alliaceous crops are clearly a major agricultural asset
and have a great impact on many economies.
It is a quarter of a century since the last comprehensive account of the edible Allium
crops was written by Jones and Mann. 7 Since then, continued and increased efforts have
been made to better understand the physiology, chemistry, genetics, and pathology of these
important crops. Some of these investigations have involved topics which were unexplored
as regards alliums in 1963, for example, tissue culture, the effects of plant growth regulators,
the biochemistry of carbohydrates and flavor compounds, and mycorrhizal associations, to
name but a few. Scientific information concerning virtually all aspects of these crops has
been accumulating at an accelerating rate in recent years. The extent of this knowledge
means that it is no longer feasible for any individual to competently review the alliaceous
crops. Consequently, in this book, we have brought together contributions from experts in
many disciplines. It has been the policy of the editors to allow authors to freely express
their views on matters on which there is still some scientific uncertainty or debate. We,
therefore, make no apologies for any difference of emphasis or views which may be apparent
between chapters. We are confident however, that these volumes consitute an up to date
and soundly based summary of the current knowledge on the edible Allium crops.
TABLE 1
Total Production and Areas Harvested of Dry Bulb
Onions in 19881 and Exports in 19872
Exports
Total Area
production harvested Amount Value
1000 MT 1000 ha 1000MT 1(1'$
World 25496 1787 2009 467
Africa 2088 159 67 32
N. and Central America 2286 67 256 57
S. America 1990 136 29 7
Asia 12120 1003 520 93
Europe 4817 233 1063 260
Oceania 178 5 73 19
TABLE 2
The Leading Ten Producer, Exporter, and Importer Countries for
Dry Bulb Onions in 198723
•
Producer country Total production 1000 MT Area harvested 1000 ha
China 3600 237
India 2790 280
USSR 2000 184
u.s. 1993 49
Turkey 1500 84
Japan 1260 29
Spain 1104 32
Brazil 856 75
Iran 740 42
Poland 615 31
Exporter country Quantity 1000 MT Value 10'$
Netherlands 474 106
Spain 287 59
India 210 38
Mexico 141 23
Turkey 135 13
u.s. 94 26
Poland 110 20
Italy 60 29
Australia 44 11
Pakistan 49 3
Importer country Quantity 1000 MT Value 10'$
FR Germany 377 101
UK 242 62
u.s. 168 64
France 142 38
Malaysia 105 28
Canada 98 37
United Arab Emirates 85 15
Belgium 81 18
Singapore 53 18
Kuwait 44 12
TABLE 3
Garlic Production in 19874
Production Area harvested
1000 MT 1000 ha
World 2662 421
Africa 237 8
N. and Central America 137 15
S. America 140 32
Asia 1612 264
Europe 488 90
Oceania 4
Leading Ten Countries
China 615 71
Korean Republic 280 40
Spain 230 40
India 217 60
Egypt 215 5
Turkey 98 14
Thailand 98 29
Brazil 76 18
USA 71 5
Pakistan 57 7
TABLE 4
Production of Leeks Within
Countries of the European
Economic Community5
Production• Area harvested
1000 MT 1000 ha
EEC Total 601 26.8
Major Producer Countries
France 225 9.8
Belgium 107 3.3
Netherlands 75 2.8
U.K. 61 2.7
Spain 55 2.9
FRG 43 1.7
Greece 37 1.8
Italy 30 1.3
a Data are for 1987.
TABLE 5
Production of Japanese Bunching Onion
(A. fistulosum), in Japan and South
Korea and Production of Rakkyo
(A. chinense) and Chinese Chives
(A. tuberosum) in Japan6
Production• Area
Crop 1000 MT 1000 ha
Japan
Japanese bunching onion 563 24.1
Rakkyo 31.5 2.3
Chinese chives 66.1 2.6
South Korea
Japanese bunching onion 432 18.9
a Data are for the year 1984.
REFERENCES
I. FAO, Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 1988.
2. FAO, Trade Yearbook, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 41, 149, 1988.
3. FAO, Production Yearbook, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 41, 190, 1988.
4. FAO, Production Yearbook, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 41, 192, 1988.
5. Eurostat, Crop Production Quarterly Statistics 4-1987, Statistical Office of the European Communities,
Luxembourg, 1987, 35.
6. Komochi, S., personal communication, 1987.
7. Jones, H. A. and Mann, L. K., Onions and Their Allies, Leonand Hill Books, London, and Interscience
Publishers, New York, 1963.
THE EDITORS
Haim D. Rabinowitch, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture,
The Hebrew University of Jersalem, Rehovot, Israel and currently leads the Group of
Vegetable Physiology and Breeding.
Prof. Rabinowitch graduated from the Hebrew University of Jersalem, in 1965, obtained
his M.Sc. (suma cum laude) in 1967, and received his Ph.D. in 1973 from the same
university. He was appointed Lecturer in Vegetable Production at his alma mater in 1976,
promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1981, and to Associate Professor in 1986, at Rehovot.
He did post-doctoral work at the Department of Applied Genetics, the John Innes
Institute, Norwich England, from 1974 to 1976. In 1981-1982 and in 1986---1987 he spent
sabbatical leaves at the Department of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center Dur-
ham, North Carolina
Prof. Rabinowitch is a member of the American Society for Horticultural Science, The
International Society for Horticultural Science, The Scandinavian Society for Plant Physi-
ology, and EUCARPIA. He is a member of the National Vegetable Commodity Committee
and of the Professional and Research Committees for Onion Breeding and Production, and
for Seed Production, of the Israel Ministry of Agriculture; Member of the Working Group
on Allium, the European Cooperative Group for the Conservation and Exchange of Crop
Genetic Resources, the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR); served as
a consultant to the IBPGR on Germplasm Conservation of Allium species; in charge of the
IBPGR Global Field Bank for vegetatively propagated short-day Allium species; and recipient
of the American Society for Horticultural Science, National Food Processing Association
Award in raw products research for 1983.
Prof. Rabinowitch published more than 45 scientific papers, developed 2 tomato cul-
tivars, and 3 short-day F, onion cultivars for fresh market and for the dehydration industry.
His current research interests are in physiology and breeding of alliaceous and some Solan-
aceae crops, and in the protective mechanisms against oxygen toxicity in plants.
James L. Brewster, D.Phil is a Principal Scientific Officer in the Crop Production
Division, Institute of Horticultural Research, Wellesbourne, Warwick, U.K.
Dr. Brewster graduated in 1966 from Wye College, University of London, with a B.Sc
(Honors) degree in Agricultural Science and obtained his D.Phil degree from the University
of Oxford in 1971. He remained at Oxford working on the quantitative modeling of nutrient
uptake by plant roots until transferring to Wellesbourne in 1974.
Dr. Brewster is a member of the Society of Experimental Biology, Association of Applied
Biologists, and Institute of Horticulture. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Hor-
ticultural Science. He is a member of the Onion panel for the National Institute of Agricultural
Botany, U.K. He has frequently presented lectures on aspects of his work at scientific and
technical meetings in the U.K. and Europe.
Throughout his research career he has been concerned with aspects of the physiology
of alliums and has authored 33 research papers covering aspects of the nutrition, flowering,
growth rate, control of bulbing, and agronomy of these crops. The main theme of his research
is to obtain quantitative relationships for the environmental control of physiological processes
and to apply these to understand and predict growth in the field.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As editors and also as contributors, we would like to thank firstly the heads of our
respective institutes, namely Professor T. J. Swinburne and Professor J. K. A. Bleasdale,
of the Institute of Horticultural Research, Wellesbourne, U.K. for J. L. Brewster, and
Professor Ilan Chet, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Rehovot, Israel, for H. D. Rabinowitch for their support for the production of this book.
Prof. Rabinowitch also wishes to thank Professor Irwin Fridovich, Duke University Medical
Center, Durham, North Carolina, with whom he spent a sabbatical. Without the help and
facilities available at the above institutes, the task would not have been possible. We would
also like to acknowledge the support of the contributing authors to these volumes, who have
so generously given of their time and expertise. We thank them and the institutions in which
they are based. We would also like to thank Dr. Suren S. Apte and other staff at the
International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, Netherlands for arranging, and the Govern-
ment of the Netherlands for providing scholarships for 1 month of intensive joint editing
work at Wageningen. Again without this generous support, it is difficult to imagine this
project being completed. We would like to thank many individuals who contributed their
assistance and expertise. In particular Miss Heather A. Butler of IHR Wellesbourne, for
meticulously redrawing some figures, for checking reference abbreviations, and her careful
and rapid work in many other respects. Also, we would like to thank Mrs. Margaret Jonas
of IHR We llesbourne for much secretarial assistance with the production of papers and with
correspondence. We would like to acknowledge the help of our computer departments,
particularly Mrs. Julie Rose at Wellesbourne and Mrs. Zehavit Regev at Rehovot. Without
the BITNET and EARN communications between U.K. and Israel and U.K. and U.S., it
is difficult to envisage how we as editors could have completed this task. We acknowledge
the help of a number of colleagues in the reviewing of chapters on subjects on which our
own expertise is limited. In particular we would like to thank Dr. Lesley Currah, Mr.
B. D. Dowker, Dr. R. J. Whenham, Dr. D. J. Ockendon, and Professor Y. L. Bar-Sinai.
DEDICATION
Prof. Haim D. Rabinowitch would like to dedicate these volumes to his wife, Shoshie and to
his mother, Sara. Prof. James L. Brewster would like to dedicate these volumes to his parents.