Prototyping extracts from Artemisia absinthium L. for their biostimulating properties yield-enhancing, and farmer income-increasing properties

Abstract

A number of alternative solutions to be implemented in the sustainable agriculture have appeared in recent years that not only improve crop yield but also reduce environmental pollution. They include, i.a., the use of biostimulants which are believed to stimulate plants growth. The objective of study was to produce a novel and natural biostimulant from leaves of Artemisia absinthium L. and to evaluate its properties under field conditions. This work is the first ever to report a complex approach to the use of plant extracts in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivation based on the evaluation of not only crop yield but also economic effects. To accomplish this goal, two methods of aqueous extraction were applied, and the extracts obtained were administered to soybean plants, in the form of foliar application and soil treatment, at two stages of plant phenological development. Nineteen phenolic compounds were identified in the infusions, whereas eleven in the cold-soaked extracts. The total concentration of phenolics was over twofold higher in infusions. The extracts differed in terms of contents of macro- and microelements. The cold-soaked extracts were rich especially in macroelements (they had twofold higher contents of calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, and sulfur). The reported study proved the extracts examined can be successfully used as effective biostimulants in soybean cultivation. The improvement in soybean yield (in each tested combination) was noted as an effect of the application of the extracts from Artemisia absinthium, regardless of the method of their application. Nevertheless treating plants with cold-soaked extracts and infusions, in the form of foliar application, caused the average highest yield increase (31.41 % and 23.70 % respectively increasing over control). Considering both their effect on crop yield and also the economic concerns, they should be administered in the form of spraying. Our findings indicate that foliar application of both the infusions and the cold-soaked extracts brought similar profits from soybean cultivation (average 181 EUR ha−1). In addition, results allowed verifying the advanced hypothesis that extracts from Artemisia absinthium are candidates for ideal biostimulants. This study was the first to prove that this agronomic practice would represent a designed tool that would meet requirements of farmers by ensuring incomes from cultivation.