Chaudhry, Usman KhalidGokce, Zahide Neslihan OzturkGokce, Ali Fuat2024-11-072024-11-0720201560-85301814-9596https://doi.org/10.17957/IJAB/15.1611https://hdl.handle.net/11480/14019Onion (Allium cepa L.) has huge importance due to its health benefits. Salinity and drought stress appear to be the major threats towards the productivity of crops and vegetables across the globe. Although in literature several studies summarize responses of agricultural crops to abiotic stresses but data for onion appears to be limited. In this greenhouse study, seven onion cultivars were compared for their morphological and physiological responses to salinity stress (SS) and drought stress (DS). Salinity stress was applied to SS group through irrigating with water containing increasing doses of NaCl (100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 mM) in 3-day intervals, whereas water was suspended for 20 days to DS group for drought stress application. Salinity and drought stress decreased photosynthetic rate, lower leaf number, leaf length and bulb yield. SS interfered with root length and diameter, whereas thicker and elongated root length was noticed in response to DS. The cultivars 'Elit', 'Hazar' and 'Sampiyon' exhibited the reduction in photosynthetic rate. Maximum damage to chlorophyll contents was observed in cultivars 'Elit', 'Hazar' and 'Sampiyon' under SS and DS conditions. The cultivar 'Perama' manifested the highest bulb weight under SS and DS condition. The cultivars 'Perama' and 'Seyhan' were referred to as tolerant based on their overall performance under SS and DS, supported by the results of principal component analysis (PCA), however, the cultivars 'Elit', 'Hazar', and 'Sampiyon' performed poorly, so grouped as sensitive cultivars. Results of this study can be helpful in screening of tolerant and susceptible onion cultivars which will be useful for future breeding programs. (C) 2020 Friends Science Publisherseninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessAbiotic stressOnion cultivarsPhotosynthesisRoot morphologyYieldArticle2461681169110.17957/IJAB/15.16112-s2.0-85093938980Q3WOS:000600188200036N/A