Optimum nitrogen fertilization of Calophyllum inophyllum seedlings under greenhouse conditions

A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to study the effects of nitrogen fertilization on Calophy- llum inophyllum seedlings grown with 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400 and 600 mg N per seedling according to exponential functions. Seedling height, root collar diameter, leaf area and total biomass increased with increasing fertilization from 0 to 200 mg N per seedling and decreased with further increase in fertilization from 300 to 600 mg N per seedling. The net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration and transpiration rate of C. inophyllum seedlings showed a unimodal parabolic trend, with peak values of 7.29 mmol·m−2·s−1, 0.071 mol·m−2·s−1, 220 mmol·mol−1 and 1.34 mmol·m−2·s−1, respectively, when the rate of fertilization was 200 mg N per seedling. Photosynthetic gas exchange parameters were significantly different among nitrogen treatments. Based on the critical values of leaf N and P concentration and N/P ratio, the optimum amount of nitrogen of C. inophyllum seedlings was 200–400 mg per seedling for leaf N and P concentration, and 100–400 mg per seedling for N/P ratio. It was concluded that 200–400 mg N per seedling was the most suitable nitrogen range for C. inophyllum seedlings.