Unlocking Cold-Weather Growth: Urea Beats Nitrate for Plant Growth Boost
Vicia faba plants were grown at low temperature with different nitrogen sources. Increasing nitrogen concentration led to better plant growth, with urea-N resulting in greater growth than nitrate-N. The plants absorbed more carbon and nitrogen with higher nitrogen levels, mainly due to increased leaf area for CO2 uptake. Urea was more effective than nitrate in promoting growth, likely because of faster nutrient uptake. Nitrate reductase activity was high with nitrate but low with urea. Overall, there was no evidence of nitrate reduction restriction at low temperature, and urea was found to be more beneficial for plant growth in these conditions.