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. 2020 Dec 15;6(12):e05718.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05718. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Nitrogen use efficiency and critical leaf N concentration of Aloe vera in urea and diammonium phosphate amended soil

Md Akhter Hossain Chowdhury  1 , Taslima Sultana  1 , Md Arifur Rahman  1 , Tanzin Chowdhury  2   3 , Christian Ebere Enyoh  4 , Biplob Kumar Saha  1   5 , Wang Qingyue  3
Affiliations

Nitrogen use efficiency and critical leaf N concentration of Aloe vera in urea and diammonium phosphate amended soil

Md Akhter Hossain Chowdhury et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Aloe vera L. is widely cultivated in many countries due to its importance as an all-purpose herbal or medicinal plant. The growth and yield of this plant can be enhanced by application of fertilizer. It is expected that a higher and balanced nutrient supply will result in higher crop production maintaining soil health, which is possible when the applied fertilizers are done in way that is efficient. So, there is a need to understand the amount of applied and type of fertilizer that will give the best output for farmers and to formulate economical market products. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of N fertilizer on leaf yield, its uptake and requirement, critical concentration, use efficiency and economics of Aloe vera L. Plants were grown at six levels of N: 0, 40, 80, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1 from urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) following completely randomized design with three replicates under field condition. The highest values of yield and yield attributes and profit based on benefit cost ratio (3.81 for urea and 2.91 for DAP) were obtained with 150 kg N ha-1 (urea) and 100 kg N ha-1 (DAP). Leaf biomass yield increased by 18-128 % in urea-N and 30-139 % in DAP-N fertilized plant over control while DAP > urea by 7.59 %. Sucker production (mean number) was urea-N (4.95 Plant-1) > DAP-N (2.28 Plant-1). Both gel and leaf N concentration and uptake was highest at 200 kg ha-1 for both sources. For 80 % leaf biomass yield, minimum requirement of N was ca 74.90 (urea) and 89.60 kg ha-1 (DAP). Growth and yield parameters to N application exhibited significant and positive correlations. Critical leaf N concentration was ca 0.88% (DAP) and 0.90% (urea) while mean and maximum NUE was 34% and 64 % (urea) and 43% and 69% (DAP), respectively. Farmers can be advised to apply N at the rate of 150 kg ha-1 from urea for producing economically higher yield and better-quality A. vera leaves.

Keywords: Agricultural science; Aloe vera L.; Biological sciences; Chemistry; Critical N concentration; DAP; Environmental science; Food science; Leaf yield; NUE; Urea.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of different levels of N from urea and DAP on the plant height of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparative performance of urea-N and DAP-N on the plant height of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of different levels of N from urea and DAP on the number of leaves of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparative performance of urea-N and DAP-N on the number of leaves of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of different levels of N from urea and DAP on the leaf biomass yield of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparative performance of urea and DAP on the leaf biomass yield of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparative performance of urea and DAP on the mean sucker number of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Mean N concentration of A. vera gel and leaf as influenced by urea and DAP. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Correlations and regression equations between leaf biomass yield (LBY) with plant height and leaf number, fresh gel weight (FGW) with LBY as influenced by different levels of N from urea and DAP.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Correlation between leaf N concentration and relative leaf biomass yield of A. vera.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Correlation between applied N and relative leaf biomass yield of A. vera L.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Effect of different levels of N from urea and DAP on NUE ofA. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Comparative performance of urea and DAP on mean NUE of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Comparative performance of urea-N and DAP-N on mean net return of A. vera. Bars indicate standard error (±SE) at 0.05.
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