Journal of Plant Nutrition

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Influence of humic acid application on onion

growth characteristics under water deficit
conditions

Zahra Amiri Forotaghe, Mohammad Kazem Souri, Marzieh Ghanbari Jahromi

& Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand

To cite this article: Zahra Amiri Forotaghe, Mohammad Kazem Souri, Marzieh Ghanbari Jahromi
& Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand (2022) Influence of humic acid application on onion growth
characteristics under water deficit conditions, Journal of Plant Nutrition, 45:7, 1030-1040, DOI:
10.1080/01904167.2021.1994604

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Published online: 17 Nov 2021.

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JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION
2022, VOL. 45, NO. 7, 1030–1040
https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2021.1994604

Influence of humic acid application on onion growth

characteristics under water deficit conditions
Zahra Amiri Forotaghea, Mohammad Kazem Sourib, Marzieh Ghanbari Jahromia, and Ali
Mohammadi Torkashvanda
a
Department of Horticultural Science and Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Science and
Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran; bDepartment of Horticultural Sciences, Tarbiat Modares
University, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

In this study, effect of water shortage on onion growth and quality was Received 2 November 2020
evaluated under soil humic acid (HA) application. Three levels of irrigation Accepted 26 May 2021
namely: a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% of field capacity (FC) were supplied
KEYWORDS
to plants in combination with two levels of HA namely: b1; 0 and b2;
Allium cepa; biostimulation;
100 mg/kg soil, in a factorial and completely randomized design with four enzymes activity; quality
replications. The interaction of irrigation and HA was significant on leaf dry traits; water deficit;
weight, vitamin C, calcium, total chlorophyll and bulb flavonoids, while the
onion fresh yield was not affected by treatments. Many plant growth traits
showed a reducing trend with deficit irrigation levels. The leaf biomass as
well as the leaf concentrations of potassium, calcium and zinc were signifi-
cantly decreased under highest water deficit treatment (60% FC; a3b1 and
a3b2) compared to control (a1b1) treatment. Leaf vitamin C and calcium
concentration showed almost a similar response in which their highest lev-
els were observed in a1b2 treatment, while the lowest amounts were
recorded under higher water shortage (a3b1), and application of HA (a3b2)
significantly increased these traits under higher water shortage. The
amounts of bulb flavonoids and phenols were increased by deficit irriga-
tion and application of HA further increased their content under highest
deficit irrigation. The results indicate that water deficit particularly at high-
est level reduced onion plant growth, while soil application of HA signifi-
cantly increased the growth and quality traits including leaf biomass,
vitamin C, and minerals like Ca, as well as bulb flavonoids under water def-
icit conditions.

Introduction
Climate change and global warming have changed and deteriorated the precipitation and tem-
perature patterns in many parts of the world particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. These
adverse changes have negative influences on the growth, yield and quality of agricultural food
crops (Malakar et al. 2019; Souri and Hatamian 2019). Water supply is the most limiting factor
in growth and production of agricultural crops (Abdelkhalik et al. 2019; Fereres and Soriano
2007). In many cases, the water use efficiency of cropping systems is low and strategies needed to
improve it and to produce adequate yields in good qualities with available water (Ebrahimi et al.,
2021). Different strategies have been applied to reduce the crops water consumption or to
increase their water use efficiency (Semida et al. 2017; Enchalew et al. 2016). Adopting efficient

CONTACT Mohammad Kazem [email protected] Department of Horticultural Sciences, Tarbiat Modares

University, Tehran, Iran
ß 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 1031

irrigation techniques like drip or sprinkler systems, use of refined wastewaters, change of cultiva-
tion system, planting date and type of crop represent some practical strategies in this regard
(Hatamian et al. 2019; Pereira et al. 2002). Nevertheless, one of the most important strategies is
deficit irrigation in which plants are irrigated to some degrees below full crop water requirements
(Andarzian et al. 2011; Kirnak et al. 2002). A better and successful irrigation management is pos-
sible using deficit irrigation technique particularly if combined with foliar or soil application of
biostimulant and antioxidant compounds such as humic acid, salicylic acid, amino acids and
many other compounds (Semida et al. 2017; Geerts and Raes 2009; Yang et al. 2017; Ebrahimi
et al. 2021).
Vegetables are more vulnerable to water stress, deficit irrigation or irrigation with low water
quality compared to many other agronomic crops (Souri et al. 2018; Aghayie Noroozlo et al.
2019). Therefore, adopting deficit irrigation strategy may generally lead to reduction in growth
and productivity of many vegetable crops; however, vegetables have quite different sensitivities to
deficit irrigation (Souri and Hatamian 2019). In vegetables, the quality is generally more nega-
tively affected than their yield following water shortage or irrigation with water low in quality
(Malakar et al. 2019; Souri et al. 2018; Jongman and Korsten 2018). On the other hand, applica-
tion of some organic or inorganic compounds such as humic acid has been shown to increase the
antioxidant capacity of plants and to reduce the adverse effects of environmental constrains
(Kaya et al. 2020; Nardi et al. 2002). Humic acid with different mechanisms can increase plant
tolerance leading to higher growth rate and productivity under stress conditions (Pizzeghello
et al. 2002; Suddarth et al. 2019).
Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important horticultural crops around the world that
has a significant role in many human diets. The shallow root system of onions makes them very
sensitive to water stress. Moreover, in arid and hot climates, inadequate water supply and high
temperatures generally results in salinity buildup in top soil and root zone that can restrict onion
growth and production as a very sensitive crops to the soil salinity (Shannon and Grieve 1998;
Souri and Hatamian 2019). During last decades, considerable studies have been done on onion
responses to drought or deficit irrigation (Olalla et al. 2004; Rop et al. 2016; Mebrahtu et al.
2018); however, the recovery effects of HA on plant growth was not studied in detail. Moreover,
there is a lack of information regarding the possible changes in the biochemical quality traits of
onion under deficit irrigation and HA application. Therefore, in this study the growth, produc-
tion and quality of onion were evaluated under deficit irrigation and HA application.

Materials and methods

Experimental setup
This study was done during spring and summer of 2019 under a protected greenhouse located in
suburb of Bojnord, Iran. Greenhouse had a temperature range of 28 ± 6 and a relative humidity
of 70%, with natural light intensity of about 500-700 mmole/m2/s. Big plastic pots (40 cm height
and 32 cm diameter) were filled with about 10 kg of field soil. A soil from a local vegetable pro-
duction field was used in the experiment. The soil was mixed thoroughly before experiment and
a sample was analyzed for its physiochemical characteristics. The soil had a loamy texture with a
pH; 7.8, EC; 1.2 dS/m, organic C; 0.9%, total N; 3200 mg/kg, P; 14.2 mg/kg, K; 271 mg/kg, and
Ca; 453 mg/kg soil. An amount of 100 mg/kg soil of a mix NPK (20-15-20) fertilizer was thor-
oughly mixed the pot soils before plantation. Onion seeds (Allium cepa var. Zargan) were sown
in a mixture of peat moss and perlite under greenhouse conditions on middle of January. The
five onion seedlings (eight-weeks old) were transplanted to each experimental pot on middle of
March 2019, and later were reduced to three uniform seedlings.
1032 Z. AMIRI FOROTAGHE ET AL.

Treatments application
This study was done in factorial based on completely randomized design with four replications.
The treatments were the interaction of different factors including: factor A (deficit irrigation lev-
els) of a1; 80%, a2: 70% and a3: 60% of soil field capacity (FC), factor B (application of humic
acid (HA)) b1; without and b2; with HA application. Each replication was consisted of a pot con-
taining three onion seedlings. Humic acid was purchased as pure powder, and it was dissolved
and used after preparation and dilution in distilled water. Humic acid was supplied to pot soil
three times in a final concentration of 1 g/pot (nearly 100 mg/kg soil). The first HA application
was one week before starting irrigation treatments and the two other applications were done in
one month intervals. The deficit irrigation levels were done two weeks after transplanting, and
were performed by weighing the pots. The pots were checked every day (at the evening) for their
water content, and different amounts of water were added to pots to compensate the water losses,
and based on the irrigation levels and treatments. The other necessary cultural practices were uni-
formly performed for all treatments during the entire period of the experiment.

Measurements
Plants were checked regularly for their growth conditions and different growth traits were meas-
ured during growth period and at harvest. Plants were harvested 23 weeks after planting (on
second week of September 2019), while their leaves were turning to pale/yellow color.
Collection and recording of samples were done from all three plants in each pot (replication)
to determine the growth parameters and plant mineral nutrient concentrations. At harvest the
whole plant leaves were cut at 1-2 cm above soil surface. The bulb neck diameter was recorded at
harvest using a clipper and bulb fresh weight also recorded using a scale. To measure the leaves
dry weight, the samples were oven dried at 65
C for 24 h and recorded by a digital scale. For
determination of leaf concentration of chlorophylls, vitamin C and leaf relative water content, leaf
samples were taken five weeks before harvest when there was still active plant growth, while bulb
samples were taken at harvest.
The amount of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total phenol, and carotenoids of leaf were deter-
mined after extraction of fresh leaf samples with DMSOs and following Hatamian et al., (2019).
The concentration of leaf minerals of potassium, calcium and zinc were determined using flame
photometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy following Aghayie Noroozlo et al. (2019). Leaf
and bulb vitamin C was measured after extraction of 5 g of freshly harvested tissues with 10 mL
of 6% metaphosphoric acid by hand crushing in mortar and parcel. The whole extract was centri-
fuged, and then determined and calculated for its vitamin C content using a standard curve of
different concentrations of L-ascorbic acid and following Zargar Shooshtari et al. (2020).
Determination of total phenols of bulb was done by spectrophotometric method against Gallic
acid after extraction of bulb tissues by methanol and using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent following
Singleton et al. (1999). The content of flavonoids in bulb tissues was also determined by spectro-
photometric method following Quettier-deleu et al. (2000). Leaf relative water content (RWC)
was determined using leaf disks (2 cm diameter) from fully expanded leaves of onion. For this
purpose, first the fresh weight (FW) of leaf disks was recorded and then they were saturated in
the dark by rinsing in Petri-dishes with distilled water for 24 h. Thereafter, the disks were blotted
dry and the turgid weight (TW) was immediately measured. The dry weight (DW) of disks was
also determined after dehydration at 65
C for several hours. The RWC was then calculated using
the following formula:
RWC ð%Þ ¼ ðFW  DWÞ=ðTW  DWÞ  100
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 1033

Table 1. Analysis of variances of growth traits of onion.

Leaves dry Leaf Leaf
Source of Variation df weight Leaf RWC Leaf Chl a Leaf Chl b total Chl carotenoids Leaf vitamin C Leaf K
Irrigation(a) 2 4.08 84.39 ns 0.07 ns 0.22 0.495 0.053 38.3 1.26
Humic acid(b) 1 0.48 ns 78.13 ns 0.23 ns 0.03 ns 0.413 0.002 ns 135.6 1.53
Irrigationhumic acid 2 0.87 91.50 ns 0.03 ns 0.02 ns 0.087 0.007 ns 23.7 0.08 ns
Error 18 0.255 55.0 0.90 0.025 0.95 0.008 3.90 0.154
CV 16.68 12.59 18.16 22.75 12.98 20.86 19.18 18.18
, and ns mean significant effect at the 1%, 5% and not significant effect, respectively.

Bulb neck Bulb total Bulb Bulb

Source of Variation df Leaf Ca Leaf Zn Bulb FW diameter Phenol flavonoids vitamin C
Irrigation(a) 2 0.760 71.264 170.66 ns 0.053 ns 7827.431 1572.420 0.256 ns
Humic acid(b) 1 0.920 177.347 200.00 ns 0.051 ns 2990.222  928.087 2.683 ns
Irrigationhumic acid 2 0.296 4.764 ns 158.00 ns 0.077 ns 830.847 ns 347.893 0.288 ns
Error 18 0.104 24.77 106.0 0.080 569.0 38.0 1.028
CV 16.09 18.79 12.48 21.50 12.61 15.40 19.49
, and ns mean significant effect at 1%, 5% and not significant effect, respectively

Statistical analysis
The collected data were subjected to factorial ANOVA to assess the effect of different factors and
their interaction using SAS software. The differences among the treatments were analyzed with
LSD at P < 0.05.

Results and discussion

The results of analysis of variance (Table 1) showed that the interaction effect of irrigation and
HA was significant on leaf vitamin C and bulb flavonoids at 1%, and on leaf dry weight, leaf total
chl and leaf Ca at 5%, and on the rest of growth traits was not significant. Effect of irrigation was
significant on leaf dry weight, leaf chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll and carotenoids, and the leaf
concentration of vitamin C, K, Ca at 1% level, and on leaf Zn concentration at 5% level, while its
effect on bulb fresh weight, leaf relative water content, bulb neck diameter, and bulb vitamin C
was not significant (Table 1). The effect of HA was significant on vitamin C, K, Ca and Zn of
leaves, and on bulb flavonoids at 1%, and on leaf total chlorophyll and bulb total phenol concen-
trations at 5%, and it had no significant effect on the rest of traits (Table1).
The comparison of means showed that total leaf chlorophyll (Figure 1) was highest in a1b2,
a2b1 and a2b2 treatments that showed a significant difference only with a3b1 treated plants (low-
est irrigation water without HA application). While chlorophyll a was not affected by factors and
their interaction; however, irrigation levels had a significant effect on leaf chlorophyll b and caro-
tenoids (Table 2), as leaf chl b was significantly higher under irrigation at 80% (a1) and 70% (a2)
of FC than plants under 60% FC irrigation (a3). There was also an increasing trend in leaf carote-
noids concentration with reducing irrigation levels (Table 2). The highest leaf carotenoids were in
a3 that showed significant higher amount than a1 treatment. Similarly, the interaction of irriga-
tion and HA on leaf dry weight (Figure 2) showed a reducing trend in leaf biomass by reduction
in irrigation water; however, only plants under a3b1 and a3b2 treatments showed significant
reduction in leaf biomass compared to a1b1 treatment. On the other hand, application of HA sig-
nificantly increased leaf dry weight of onion plants under highest deficit irrigation treatment
(Figure 2). Water shortage can generally change the plant metabolism processes toward better
plant tolerance acquisition (Sezen et al. 2019; Enchalew et al. 2016). In many plants, changes and
reduction in major leaf physiological and metabolic characteristics is the most common feature
under water stress and deficit irrigation (Souri and Hatamian 2019). Under such conditions,
1034 Z. AMIRI FOROTAGHE ET AL.

Figure 1. The interaction effects on irrigation (a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% FC) and humic acid (B1; without and b2; with soil
application) on onion leaf dry weight. Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

Table 2. Effect of irrigation levels on some growth and quality traits of onion.
Leaf carotenoids Leaf Chl b (mg/ Leaf Zn con. (mg/ Bulb total Phenol
Irrigation levels (mg/g FW) g FW) Leaf K con. (%) kg DW) (mg/100 g FW)
a1 (80% FC) 0.39b 0.74a 2.17b 28.2a 174b
a2 (70% FC) 0.44ab 0.73a 2.39a 27.4a 185b
a3 (60% FC) 0.48a 0.58b 1.93c 24.2b 209a
 Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

Figure 2. The interaction effects of irrigation (a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% FC) and humic acid (B1; without and b2; with soil
application) on onion leaf dry weight. Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

reduction in growth might be mainly due to restricted cell division and particularly cell enlarge-
ment induced by lack of sufficient turgidity of cells rather than reduction in photosynthesis
(Marschner 2012). The changes and reductions in chlorophylls under highest water deficit were
probably resulted in lower photosynthesis and reduced leaf biomass; however, it had no signifi-
cant reduction in bulb fresh weight (Table 1). In contrast, many studies reported yield reduction
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 1035

Figure 3. The interaction effects of irrigation (a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% FC) and humic acid (B1; without and b2; with soil
application) on vitamin C concentration of onion leaves. Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

in onion due to drought or water deficit treatments (Wakchaure et al. 2018; Sezen et al. 2019;
Rop et al. 2016). This might be due to the mild nature of deficit irrigation levels as well as the
microclimate effect of the greenhouse. However, the increase in leaves carotenoids by the highest
water deficit (a3) indicates that plants approached some stress conditions. Increase in leaf pig-
mentation of carotenoids due to drought or water deficit has been also reported (Owusu-Sekyere
et al. 2010; Patel & Rajput, 2013). Carotenoids are produced to mitigate unfavorable effects of
oxidative radicles on chlorophylls and associated components (Marschner 2012).
Determination of leaf vitamin C (Figure 3) showed that plants in a1b2, a2b1, a2b2 and a3b2
treatments had higher and in a3b1 treatment had lower amount of leaf vitamin C compared to
control (a1b1) treated plants. The highest leaf vitamin C was in a1b2 treated plants that showed
no significant difference with a2b1 and a2b2 treatments. The lowest leaf vitamin C was in a3b1
treated plants that were grown under highest deficit irrigation without HA application; however,
significant increase in leaf vitamin C following treatment with HA was observed in plant under
60% FC irrigation treatment (Figure 3). In vegetable crops, significant changes in leaf vitamin C
have been reported under various management practices (Aghayie Noroozlo et al. 2019; Zargar
Shooshtari et al. 2020). Vitamin C is a water soluble compound that its content in plants is influ-
enced by water status as well as by the occurrence of many environmental stresses (Souri and
Hatamian 2019). In this study, higher water deficit resulted in lowest leaf vitamin C; however,
bulb vitamin C was not affected by irrigation or HA and their interactions (Table 1). Despite
onion leaves are not considered as a source for vitamin C in human diets, but when the onion
plantlets are used as a fresh vegetable its vitamin C content can be important in diets. No signifi-
cant change in bulb fresh weight, vitamin C and neck diameter indicates that onion bulbs, in
contrast to leaves, were not influenced by applied deficit irrigation. In plant physiology, onion
itself deserves as a significant sink and storage organ and can buffer some changes in water or
carbohydrates supplies (Marschner 2012).
Determination of leaf minerals showed that the significant highest leaf Ca (Figure 4) was
observed in a1b2 treated plants (the highest irrigation with HA application), and the lowest Ca
was observed in a3b1 treated plants (the lowest irrigation without HA application). Leaf calcium
concentration was significantly reduced at highest deficit irrigation in a3b1 (60% FC irrigation);
1036 Z. AMIRI FOROTAGHE ET AL.

Figure 4. The interaction effects of irrigation (a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% FC) and humic acid (B1; without and b2; with soil
application) on onion leaf calcium concentration. Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

however, application of HA significantly increased leaf Ca under highest deficit irrigation. At first
level of irrigation, application of HA also significantly increased leaf Ca than untreated plants.
Irrigation at a2 level (70% FC) significantly increased leaf K concentrations (Table 2), while fur-
ther decrease in irrigation level to a3 recorded the lowest leaf potassium. On the other hand,
reduction in irrigation levels from a1 to a2 had no significant effect on leaf Zn (Table 2), while
further decrease in irrigation to a3 level (60% FC) significantly reduced leaf Zn compared to two
other irrigation levels. Reduction in minerals uptake is common under water shortage or other
stress conditions (Wakchaure et al. 2018; Suddarth et al. 2019). In plants, calcium uptake and
translocation are strongly influenced by plant water uptake and tissues water status (Marschner
2012; Yang et al. 2017). Significant reduction in leaf calcium concentration due to drought stress
or deficit irrigation has been reported in different crops (Kirnak et al. 2002; Patel & Rajput, 2013;
Rop et al. 2016). Our data revealed that leaf calcium and vitamin C showed a similar trend in
which they were reduced at highest water deficit level, while application of HA increased these
leaf traits. The mitigation effects of HA on plant growth and minerals uptake under water stress
conditions has been widely highlighted (Zandonadi et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2013). The highest
water deficit also resulted in lowest leaf K and Zn; however, leaf K was increased at a2 (irrigation
at 70% FC). This could be due to better growth and movement of roots toward higher K uptake
under this mild water deficit level (Marschner 2012).
The interaction of irrigation and HA on bulb flavonoids (Figure 5) showed that bulb flavo-
noids were higher in second (a2b1, a2b2) and third (a3b1, a3b2) levels of irrigation compared to
those plants at first level of irrigation (a1b1 and a1b2). The significant highest bulb flavonoids
were in a3b2 treated plants that received lowest amount of irrigation and treated with HA, and
the lowest amount was in a1b1 and a1b2 treatments. Similarly, there was an increasing trend in
bulb total phenols with decrease in irrigation water, hence the lowest irrigation (a3; 60% FC)
resulted in highest bulb phenol content (Table 2). There was no significant difference in bulb
total phenols under a1 and a2 irrigation levels. Our data showed that bulb flavonoids responded
better to deficit irrigation and HA application than bulb total phenols. Increase in bulb flavonoids
and phenols could be a response to some stress signals induced by highest deficit irrigation
(Pourmorad et al. 2006). Our results showed that the amounts of bulb flavonoids and phenols
were further increased by application of HA under highest deficit irrigation (Figure 5; Table 2).
Flavonoids are among the most important and potent antioxidants in plant cells, and their
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 1037

Figure 5. The interaction of irrigation (a1; 80%, a2; 70% and a3; 60% FC) and humic acid (B1; without and b2; with soil applica-
tion) on flavonoids concentrations of onion bulbs. Comparison of means was done at 5% level of LSD test.

Table 3. Effects of humic acid on leaf K and Zn and total phenols concentrations of bulb.
Humic acid levels Leaf K con. (%) Leaf Zn (mg/kg DW) Bulb total Phenol (mg/100 g FW)
b1 (without HA application) 2.0b 24.9b 182.6b
b2 (with HA application) 2.3a 28.1a 195.7a
 Comparison of means was done at the 5% level of LSD test.

increase under stress conditions or by treatment with protectants such as HA is well known phe-
nomenon (Marschner 2012; Zargar Shooshtari et al., 2020). Increase in plant antioxidants repre-
sents a possible mechanism of HA induced better plant growth under environmental stresses
(Wakchaure et al. 2018; Nardi et al. 2002). Therefore, increase in flavonoids and phenols could
be a part of HA induced growth recovery under adverse environmental conditions.
The results also showed that application of HA (Table 3), regardless of irrigation levels, signifi-
cantly increased leaf K and Zn as well as bulb total phenols compared to those plants without
HA application. Increase in soil mineral uptake by plant roots due to HA application is a well-
known mechanism of HA biostimulation effect on crop plants (Suddarth et al. 2019). Soil acidifi-
cation, promotion of microbial activity and plant root growth, improved photosynthesis and hor-
mone-like effects are among the most important mechanisms of HA that alone or collectively can
induce plant growth enhancement (Pizzeghello et al. 2002; Nardi et al. 2002). Moreover, HA with
signal transmission, plant cell antioxidant enhancement, increased minerals uptake, growth regu-
lation and improved efficiency of leaf metabolic processes can promote better plant growth under
deficit irrigation (Souri and Hatamian 2019; Kaya et al. 2020).
In our study, onion growth promotion induced by HA under deficit irrigation could be mainly
due to increase in plant roots ability to uptake more water and mineral nutrients (Souri and
Hatamian 2019; Marschner 2012). It has been reported that treatment with HA can significantly
induce root branching and root hairs production resulting in more tolerance of plants under
stressful conditions (Zandonadi et al. 2007). Induction and increase in cells integrity and antioxi-
dant capacity are important in growth recovery effects of HA under adverse environmen-
tal conditions.
Despite our results showed that onion yield was not affected and other growth traits were
mildly affected by deficit irrigation; however, Semida et al. (2017) showed that drought stress sig-
nificantly reduces the growth and yield of onion and exogenous application of salicylic acid can
help to reduce the adverse effects of drought in onion plants. Moreover, significant reduction in
1038 Z. AMIRI FOROTAGHE ET AL.

onion yield and onion size was occurred over application of deficit irrigation (Rop et al., 2016).
On the other hand, it has been reported that actual evapotranspiration increases and water use
efficiency decreases with higher irrigation water or by increase in irrigation frequencies (Rop
et al. 2016; Owusu-Sekyere et al. 2010). Onion as a root vegetable crop, may be more tolerant to
water shortage particularly compared to leafy vegetable crops. Therefore, application of deficit
irrigation and decreasing its water requirement to a point that crop yield and quality are less
affected, is quite important. In arid regions, water is the most limiting factor of crop growth par-
ticularly in vegetable production that needs more scheduled irrigation. Our results confirm that
deficit irrigation represents an appropriate irrigation management strategy toward optimum pro-
duction of agricultural crops. This is in particular importance with vegetable crops that generally
needs higher amounts of water and irrigation frequencies.

Conclusion
In this study, deficit irrigation levels (80%, 70% and 60% of FC) were applied to onion plants two
weeks after transplanting and in combination with or without HA application. Some plant growth
traits were negatively influenced by highest water deficit; however, onion fresh yield was not
affected by treatments. There was an increasing trend in leaves carotenoids and flavonoids, and
total phenols of bulb with decreasing the irrigation water. Deficit irrigation significantly reduced
leaf biomass, chlorophyll, vitamin C and mineral content of Ca, K and Zn; however, application
of HA significantly increased these traits particularly under highest deficit irrigation level.
Therefore, in onion cultivation particularly when irrigation water is limited, mild deficit irrigation
in combination of biostimulants such as HA can be applied as an appropriate strategy for better
management of available water.

ORCID
Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4438-9241

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