Impact of different urea fertilizer dosages on the growth performance, biomass yield, and physiological traits of Terminalia arjuna

Terminalia arjuna is an evergreen tree commonly known as Arjun. It is native to the Indo-Pak sub-continent. It has great importance as a medicinal tree and is considered a miracle tree for curing cardiac diseases. The only problem with this precious tree is that it is slow-growing. So, an experiment was designed to investigate the effect of urea fertilizer on the growth behaviour of Terminalia arjuna at the nursery level. Urea is a common nitrogenous fertilizer used by the agriculture sector on a large scale. Keeping this in view, this experiment was designed to study the impact of various doses of urea fertilizer on the growth of this highly important tree species at the seedling level. This was a pot experiment. The experiment was carried out in the nursery and experimental area of the Department of Forestry and Range Management, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, in 2023. There were five treatments viz. T0, control (no fertilizer), T1(one gram urea, foliar spray), T2 (two gram urea, foliar spray), T3(one gram urea, root application), T4(two gram urea, root application) per plant. The experiment was laid down under a completely randomized design. The treatments were applied after fifteen-day intervals. After 45 days, the plants were harvested and data on various growth parameters were recorded. The best results were obtained under treatment T2. This treatment significantly improved all growth parameters viz. plant height, collar diameter, root and shoot length, root and shoot fresh and dry weights, root-shoot ratio, root mass allocation and shoot mass allocation. So, it is recommended that T. arjuna seedlings should be applied two grams of urea by foliar spray to get the most healthy and vigorous plants.