Optimizing growth and quality in apple nursery cv. red velox with foliar urea and nano urea application

Nutrient management is crucial in improving the vegetative development and quality of the apple nursery. Foliar feeding with urea and nano urea is thought to be an effective approach for improving nutrient uptake and plant growth. The current study investigated the influence of various urea and nano-urea concentrations on apple nursery cv. Red Velox growth and quality attributes. The treatments were of seven, of which three replications of each treatment were made: T1: Urea @ 0.3%, T2: Urea @ 0.4%, T3: Urea @ 0.5%, T4: Nano urea @ 0.3%, T5: Nano urea @ 0.4%, T6: Nano urea @ 0.5%, and T7: Control. Foliar sprays were administered once a week in July. Maximum plant height (183.21 cm), stem diameter (15.70 mm), number of branches (3.00) per plant, number of leaves (62.07) per plant, leaf area (33.51 cm2), leaf chlorophyll content (2.76 mg g-1), leaf N (2.43%) and K (1.63%) content, fresh weight of shoots (246.30 g), dry weight of shoots (116.56 g), number of roots (23.00) per plant, total root length (5.47 m), fresh weight of roots (38.23 g), dry weight of roots (22.13 g), and biomass of plant (138.69 g) were all significantly recorded in nano urea @ 0.4% (T5). Thus, vegetative growth and quality characteristics of nursery plants of apple showed considerable improvement under nano urea treatment at 0.4% (T5). A major challenge in the study was the direct comparison between conventional urea and nano urea, as their nutrient release dynamics and foliar absorption efficiencies differ considerably. The study contributes valuable comparative evidence demonstrating that nano urea, when applied at an optimal dose, can outperform conventional urea and serve as a more efficient foliar nitrogen source for apple nursery production.