Agrifound Dark Red
Dark, uniform bulbs that export buyers favour — grown across both the kharif and late-kharif windows.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Onion
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- 95–110 days after transplanting
- Seed rate
- 5–7 kg seed per hectare. Treat it with thiram at 2 g/kg before sowing, because damping off takes out monsoon nurseries fast
- Expected yield
- 250–300 q/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Moderate storage life — 3–4 months
- Release
- Notified 1 December 1998 (GoI notification 1135(E)) · bred by NHRDF for kharif cultivation
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Agrifound Dark Red is an open-pollinated kharif onion bred by NHRDF and notified by the Government of India (notification 1135(E), 1 December 1998) for kharif cultivation. Bulbs are dark red, globular, tight-skinned and moderately pungent (about 12% TSS, 13–14% dry matter), maturing in roughly 95–110 days after transplanting at an average yield around 300 q/ha. It thrives in tropical growing conditions and is widely used in curries, pickles and pakoras.
Should you pick this variety?
Pick Agrifound Dark Red if you sow in the kharif or late-kharif window and sell soon after harvest. From a plain kharif sowing it is the heaviest onion here: 250–300 q/ha against 250 for N-53 and 190–220 for either Bhima onion, for about a week more in the field than N-53's 90–100 days. The dark, tight-skinned, moderately pungent bulbs are the type export buyers look for. Storage is only 3–4 months, so plan the sale, not a long hold. In a very wet kharif, Bhima Super was bred for that window and is the safer choice against bulb rot. If you want to hold the crop into the off-season, grow a rabi storage variety like Pusa Riddhi instead.
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeA kharif onion: nursery in May–June and transplanting in July–August in Maharashtra and the Deccan, or nursery in June–July and transplanting in July–August further north (ICAR-DOGR calendar)
- Seed rate5–7 kg seed per hectare. Treat it with thiram at 2 g/kg before sowing, because damping off takes out monsoon nurseries fast
- SpacingRows 15 cm apart with plants 10 cm apart
- Sowing methodRaised nursery beds 10–15 cm high, seed sown in lines 50–75 mm apart, seedlings transplanted at 35–40 days with the top third cut back and the roots dipped in 0.1% carbendazim
- IrrigationIrrigate at transplanting, three days later, then at 7–10 day intervals — 5–8 irrigations across a kharif crop. Cut off water 10–15 days before harvest
- Fertilizer75:40:40 kg NPK per hectare for a kharif crop, nitrogen split basal, 30 days and 45 days after transplanting, over farmyard manure worth 75 kg N (about 15 t/ha) (ICAR-DOGR)
Soil & climate
Soil
- pH
- 6.0–7.5
Climate
- Temperature
- 13–24°C for leaf growth, 16–25°C for bulbing
- Rainfall
- 650–750 mm
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Officially notified variety with an established, government-recognised identity that buyers and exporters trust
- Well suited to tropical kharif conditions and widely used across curries, pickles and pakoras
Things to consider
- Storage life caps out around 3–4 months, shorter than dedicated rabi storage varieties, so the crop needs to move to market relatively soon after harvest
- Bred and notified specifically for the kharif window — its documented yield and quality figures are based on that season, not others
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
- Gujarat
- Karnataka
- Madhya Pradesh
Grading dark red bulbs for the export trade
What export buyers pay for in this variety is not tonnage, it is sameness: dark, even colour and bulbs of one size in the bag. A lot that mixes pale bulbs, double bulbs and thick necks goes out as ordinary onion at ordinary rates, however good the field was.
So the work is in the last two weeks. Stop irrigating before harvest so the skin sets, lift when the tops have gone down, and cure the bulbs in the shade with the leaves on before topping them. Then grade by size and cut out thick-necked, split, sprouted and sunburnt bulbs. Keep in mind the storage life is only 3–4 months, so this crop is meant to move, not to be held for an off-season price.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This is an open-pollinated variety, so seed from a healthy crop of your own can be sown again. Keep seed only from disease-free plants, dry it properly, store it cool and dry, and bring in fresh certified seed every three to four years so the variety does not drift.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Onion variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agrifound Dark Redthis page | Kharif onion with dark, even bulbs for the export trade | 95–110 days after transplanting | 250–300 q/ha | Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh |
| Bhima Red | Onion with the widest official state list, for kharif or rabi | 100–110 days | 190–210 q/ha (kharif) to 480–520 q/ha (late-kharif) | Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu |
| Bhima Super | Wet-season kharif onion, best sown in the late-kharif window | 100–105 days after transplanting (kharif); 110–120 days (late kharif) | 200–220 q/ha (kharif); 400–450 q/ha (late kharif) | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
| N-53 (Nashik Red) | An early kharif red onion to harvest and sell fresh | 90–100 days after transplanting | About 250 q/ha (25 t/ha) | Maharashtra |
| Pusa Riddhi | Rabi onion to store six months and sell in the off-season | 110–120 days after transplanting | 300–350 q/ha | Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Onion is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Onion plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Germination CalculatorTest 100 seeds from the bag before sowing and see whether the lot is fit to sow.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Onion variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Onion into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Onion in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Onion rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Onion seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Agrifound Dark Red mainly a kharif-season onion?
It was bred and officially notified for kharif cultivation, and its 3–4 month storage life is shorter than rabi varieties bred for long holding — so it suits selling into the market relatively soon after harvest rather than storing through the off-season.
Agrifound Dark Red or Bhima Super for a kharif crop?
Agrifound Dark Red gives 250–300 q/ha with 3–4 months of storage, and its dark even bulbs suit the export trade. Bhima Super was bred for the wet kharif window, where Agrifound Dark Red is more prone to bulb rot, but its kharif crop gives only 20–22 t/ha and stores 1–1.5 months. Pick Agrifound Dark Red for bulb quality and a longer sale window; pick Bhima Super if your kharif is wet.
How long can I hold Agrifound Dark Red bulbs after harvest?
About 3–4 months in a ventilated store. That is shorter than a rabi storage variety, so decide your selling month before you sow and do not count on holding the crop into the thin off-season market.
Can I save my own seed from Agrifound Dark Red?
It is open-pollinated, not a hybrid, so a bulb-to-seed crop stays close to type as long as no other onion is flowering nearby. Even so, buy fresh certified seed once the bulbs lose their dark colour or even size, because that is what the export buyer is paying for.
What spacing should I keep when transplanting Agrifound Dark Red?
Rows 15 cm apart with plants 10 cm apart in the row. Onion is planted close on purpose. Give it more room and you get a few heavy bulbs instead of the even, medium, dark bulbs the export trade pays for.
How soon after transplanting is Agrifound Dark Red ready?
95–110 days after transplanting, with a yield of 250–300 q/ha. Count from the transplanting date, not from the nursery sowing, and start watching the necks: harvest once about half the tops have gone over.
Sourced from: Onion varieties for different seasons — Krishi Jagran, Top 10 Onion varieties in India — Agritimes, Onion Agropedia, ICAR-Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research: region-wise season calendar, nursery and seed rate, spacing, fertiliser and irrigation. editorial policy.