Urea Fertilization: Effects on Growth, Nutrient Uptake and Root Development of the Biodiesel Plant, Castor Bean (Ricinus communis L.)

Abstract

An indoor pot culture experiment was conducted in the growth chamber during the period of vegetative growth to evaluate the influence of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer in the form of urea on nutrient uptake, growth and root development of castor bean plant. The Nitrogen Fertilizer treatments imposed in the experiment were: Control (N0), no nitrogen and others at the rate and 60lb N/acre (N1), 90lb N/acre (N2) and 120lb N/acre (N3) respectively. Effect of higher nitrogen concentration indicated considerable increases in castor growth including vegetative growth and the plant components biomass. Elevated nitrogen fertilizer increased height and other morphological and physiological parameters (Leaf and petiole length, intermodal distance, root numbers) including the root, shoot dry wt, root/ shoot ratio, nitrogen and crude protein content in plants. Among the plant components, shoot, root dry weight and root shoot ratio had the greatest decrease under N deficiency, while root/shoot carbon ratio increased under N deficiency. No statistical difference was observed with treatments in shoot and root N% and shoot C% in plants although root carbon content was significantly higher with lowest nitrogen level compared to elevated levels. Significant increases of carbon content in plants at N0 showed some tendency of this crop to adjust with lower nitrogen levels. Also no statistical difference was observed in root and shoot N ratio, while the root and shoot carbon ratio was found significant at N0 compared to other treatments. However the concentration of carbon and nitrogen were found higher in shoot than root in all applied treatments. After harvesting the residual nitrogen effect in soil was also found significant with elevated nitrogen level compared with other treatments and control.

Biofuel Production with Castor Bean: A Win–Win Strategy for Marginal Land

“…Castor bean has been used for a very long time and is one of the oldest commercial products [107], known in the traditional medicine of ancient Mediterranean and Asian cultures [108], being still used in traditional medicine worldwide (e.g., Chinese and Ayurveda) [21,108]. Long before "biobased" became a catchphrase, CB oil-derived products were used for centuries (e.g., in ancient Egypt lamps) [21,109].…”

Spent mushroom compost for germination and growth of Ricinus communis L.

“…The CAC substratum recorded the thickest taproots, while the total length and diameter of lateral roots were similar in all treatments with some CAC ratio but were higher than those obtained in soil and sand. The light textural composition and nutrient concentration in CAC resulted in thicker roots, allowing good aeration and facilitating their development in length and thickness (Nahar and Pan, 2015). Nevertheless, roots are usually thinner in a nutrient-poor substrate (Helliwell et al, 2019), as can be seen in the case of the roots in the sand, which were thinner than in substrata with some compost ratio.…”

“…Regarding the leaf area, linear growth had rates eight times higher in CAC than in sand. These increases in foliage growth rates are mainly attributed to the high content and availability of N that CAC possesses, which allows an accelerated development of seedlings, especially in the foliar area (Nahar and Pan, 2015). On the other hand, the progressive decrease in growth (e.g., the number of leaves) can be explained by the size of the container bags that limited the development of the plants because this depends on the size of the pod (SEB, 2012).…”

“…For their part, Nahar and Pan (2015) found that the response of 28-day-old seedlings of R. communis to different nitrogen levels is directly proportional to the increase in their biomass, indicating that high levels of nitrogen favor the initial growth of R. communis.…”

Balanced crop nutrition with mid-season foliar fertilization enhances productivity, profitability and partial factor productivity in rainfed castor (Ricinus communis)

“…Crop being considerably of longer duration, nutrient supplied during initial phase of its growth may not be adequate to meet out its demand during later phase. While, peak nutrient-demanding stage of the crop is around flowering and reproductive stage (Nahar and Pan, 2015). Especially nitrogen being the nutrient responsible for source development, its deficiency and suboptimal concentration in plant system hinders the leaf production, leaf-area development and photosynthesis in castor (Reddy and Matcha, 2010).…”