It is now being realized that irradiation products of natural bioactive agents can also be beneficially utilized to impart value addition in agriculture by converting these bioactive agents into more useful form.
Polysaccharides, such as
sodium alginate, have proven to be wonderful growth promoting substances in their depolymerized form for various plants.
Artemisinin has been increasingly popular as an effective and safe alternative
therapy against
malaria; also proved effective against the highly adaptable
malaria parasite, which has already become resistant to many other drugs. The
drug artemisinin can be extracted from the leafy tissues of Artemisia annua. Therefore, experiments were conducted with an aim to evaluate
artemisinin production and overall plant development though depolymerized
sodium alginate application and nutrient supply. In the present study,
sodium alginate, irradiated by Co-60 gamma rays together with various
phosphorus doses, was used to study their effect on growth, physiological and biochemical processes and production of
artemisinin in A. annua. Among various applied doses of
phosphorus fertilizer, P40 (40 kg Pha(-1)) together with ISA80 (80 mg L(-1)) significantly improved all the parameters studied. Increase in plant height as well as weight was noted at this treatment. Dry leaf yield,
artemisinin concentration in leaves and
artemisinin yield was also significantly enhanced by the treatment.