~ 342 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2018; 7(7): 342-345 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.03 TPI 2018; 7(7): 342-345 © 2018 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 12-05-2018 Accepted: 14-06-2018 Tariq A Bhat Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India MA Chattoo Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India EA Parray Division of fruit Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India F Mushtaq Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India Asif M Rather Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India SB Zehra Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India MA Hajam Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India MD Shah Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India RC Patra Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India Correspondence Tariq A Bhat Division of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India Influence of varying levels of zinc on quality attributes and shelf life of onion in Kashmir Tariq A Bhat, MA Chattoo, EA Parray, F Mushtaq, Asif M Rather, SB Zehra, MA Hajam and MD Shah Abstract An investigation was performed at the experimental field of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) during Rabi 2015-16 and 2016-17 to find out the effect of different levels of zinc on quality attributes and shelf life of onion. The experiment was tested in Randomized completely block design with three replications. Four levels of zinc viz., Zinc (Z), Z0 (control or no zinc), Z1 (2.500 kg ha -1 ), Z2 (5.00 kg ha -1 ) and Z3 (7.500 kg ha -1 ). The observations were recorded on quality attributes from 10 randomly selected samples of each treatment while observations regarding shelf were carried out after storage of 10 kg bulbs in each treatment for three months. Pooled analysis revealed that maximum values for quality traits like protein content (12.83 percent), vitamin C content (13.78 mg 100 -1 g), T.S.S (13.11 o Brix), pyruvic acid (8.11 μmol g -1 ) and dry matter content (15.21 percent) were recorded with Z3 (7.500 kg Zn ha -1 ) treatment followed by Z2 (5.000 kg Zn ha -1 ). Significantly lower values of total weight loss (28.98 percent), physiological weight loss (13.62 percent), sprouting (7.75 percent) and rotting (7.61 percent) were observed with Z3 (7.500 kg Zn ha -1 ). Keywords: Onion, TSS, Pyruvic acid, total weight loss and zinc Introduction Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important commercial vegetable crop cultivated extensively in India. It is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium, belongs to family Alliaceae. An umbel-like inflorescence composed of white or greenish-white small flowers, grows at the tip of the stem. The fruits are capsules, which contain black flat seeds. The edible bulb can grow up to 10 cm in diameter; it is composed of several overlapping layers on a central core. The edible portions of the bulb are the enlarged leaf bases and compact stem. The predominant flavor component results from activity of the enzyme alliance in broken or crushed tissue, yielding the volatiles allyl propyl disulfide and methyl propyl disulfide (Malik, 1994) [15] . It is one the most important character which increases the taste of food (Kumar et al., 2010) [13] . In India, it is treated as most important export oriented vegetable, exporting to the tune of 13, 58,193.00 mt of rupees 2, 87,713.00 lakhs during 2015 – 2016 (Anonymous, 2016) [6] . It is a cool season vegetable crop but is among the most widely adapted vegetable crops. Onion is cultivated under an area of 4121.51 (‘000 ha) with a production of 79867.21 (‘000 mt) in the world (Anonymous, 2015) [7] . In India, onion is being grown in an area of 1225.21 (000’ ha) with production of 20991.34 (000’t) and the productivity is 17.30 t ha -1 which is low (Anonymous, 2017) [4] . Poductivity of onion were higher in the case of Turkey (34.3 t ha -1 ) followed by Brazil (26.1 t ha -1 ) and China (25 t ha -1 ). Due to lower yields, though India has the highest area under onion, it stands second in the production of onion in the world. Hence, there is a lot of potential for increasing the production of onion by improving the yields. In Kashmir it is grown under an area of 950 ha and produces 24250 (t) with a productivity of 25.4 (t ha -1 ) (Anonymous, 2015) [5] . India is also the largest exporter of onion and hence, it is crucial to improve the yield and quality for enhancing the export level, so that it helps in earning foreign exchange for the exchequer of the country. In India onion is mostly cultivated during rabi (60 percent) followed by 20 percent each in kharif and late kharif seasons. Productivity could be increased by use of suitable varieties, balanced nutrition, optimum water management as well as need based plant protection measures. Among the many constraints for low productivity in onion, imbalanced nutrition is the main limiting factor. Fertilizers offer the best means of increasing yield, quality and maintaining soil fertility. In addition to nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur, zinc as a micronutrient have great