title: Effect of irradiated sodium alginate and phosphorus on biomass and artemisinin production in Artemisia annua.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062, India; Plant Physiology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India. Electronic address: tarik.alig@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tariq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aftab
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
authors.forename: M Masroor A
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naeem
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
authors.forename: Mohd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062, India.
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Siddiqi
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110062, India.
authors.lastname: Moinuddin
authors.affiliation: Radiation Technology Development Section, Radio-Chemistry and Isotope Group, BARC, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors.forename: Lalit
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Varshney
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000464:Alginates / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D031172:Artemisia annua / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018533:Biomass; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis; D005720:Gamma Rays; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D058105:Polymerization
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D037621:Artemisinins; D005308:Fertilizers; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D010758:Phosphorus; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; C031327:artemisinin
keywords: Artemisia annua; Artemisinin; Irradiated sodium alginate; Phosphorus