Biofertilizer increases nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at leaves level of Artemisia annua L.

Abstract

An efficient cultivation procedure is required to support the production of artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. As a secondary plant metabolite, artemisinin production is influenced by environmental factors such as the availability of nutrients. This research aimed to evaluate nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of N, P, and K and biofertilizer effectiveness in A. annua cultivation under treatments of various rates of nutrients provided in relation to artemisinin production. Leaves dry mass, leaves nutrients concentration (N, P, and K), artemisinin content, and artemisinin yield were measured to analyse NUE. Four indices of NUE, i.e. partial factor productivity (PFP), apparent crop recovery efficiency (RE), physiological efficiency (PE), and agronomic efficiency (AE), were used for evaluation. The result showed that the biofertilizer increases the artemisinin content, artemisinin yield, and NUE. Two of the four indices, PFP and AE, show the significant role of biofertilizer on NUE. The NUE level of plants with biofertilizer treatment increased 2.2 and 4.5 times than plants without biofertilizer. Therefore, it is recommended to use biofertilizer in A. annua cultivation for artemisinin production.