Nutrient uptake and pharmaceutical compounds of Aloe vera as influenced by integration of inorganic fertilizer and poultry manure in soil

Tanzin Chowdhury; Md Akhter Hossain Chowdhury; Wang Qingyue; Christian Ebere Enyoh; Weiqian Wang; Md Sirajul Islam Khan

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07464

Nutrient uptake and pharmaceutical compounds of Aloe vera as influenced by integration of inorganic fertilizer and poultry manure in soil

Heliyon. 2021 Jul 2;7(7):e07464. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07464. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Tanzin Chowdhury^{1

2}, Md Akhter Hossain Chowdhury³, Wang Qingyue², Christian Ebere Enyoh⁴, Weiqian Wang², Md Sirajul Islam Khan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.
² Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan.
³ Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh.
⁴ Group Research in Analytical Chemistry, Environment and Climate Change (GRACE & CC), Department of Chemistry, Imo State University, Nigeria.

Abstract

Aloe vera had been used for numerous medical and cosmetic applications since ancient times. The study aimed to investigate the integrated effects of inorganic fertilizer (IF) and poultry manure (PM) on the nutritional and pharmaceutical constituents of A. vera. Eighteen month old A. vera seedlings were used following completely randomized design with three replications. Six combinations of IF [Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S) at the rate of 150, 80, 120 and 30 kg ha^-1, respectively] and PM (at the rate of 5 t ha^-1) were considered viz., IF₀₀PM₀₀ (IF = 0%, PM = 0%), IF₁₀₀PM₀₀(IF = 100%, PM = 0%), IF₇₅PM₂₅ (IF = 75%, PM = 25%), IF₅₀PM₅₀ (IF = 50%, PM = 50%), IF₂₅PM₇₅ (IF = 25%, PM = 75%) and IF₀₀PM₁₀₀ (IF = 0%, PM = 100%) as treatments. Different treatment combinations of IF and PM exerted significant influence on the nutritional and pharmaceutical contents of A. vera. Concentrations and uptake of the concerned nutrients were gradually increased with the increased levels of PM except NPKS which were highest in sole application of IF. The aloin concentration of leaf was gradually increased with the increased level of PM and by 42.44% over control. The highest chlorophyll, total phenolic and flavonoid concentrations were found in the plants receiving the treatment IF₂₅PM₇₅ except protein content which was obtained from IF₁₀₀PM₀₀. Significant and positive relationships between N and S with P concentrations and P and S with K concentrations of A. vera leaf were noticed. Aloin, total phenolic and flavonoid concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with Mg, Fe and Mn concentrations of A. vera leaf. Farmers may be advised to cultivate A. vera applying 75% PM at the rate of 5 t ha^-1 along with 25% IF (N, P, K and S at the rate of 150, 80, 120 and 30 kg ha^-1, respectively) for obtaining better quality leaf in terms of nutrients and pharmaceutical compounds under the agro-climatic conditions of the study area.

Keywords: A. vera; Inorganic fertilizer; Mineral nutrients; Pharmaceutical compounds; Poultry manure.