Extracts from Artemisia vulgaris L. in Potato Cultivation—Preliminary Research on Biostimulating Effect

Abstract

Nowadays the size and quality of potato yields is very important aspect in agriculture, due to the continuous climate change. Plants exposed to abiotic stress need new protection tools such as plant biostimulant. The new definition of this product include plant extracts as novel biostimulants. The aim of the study was to assess whether the extracts from Artemisia vulgaris L. would act as classic biostimulants, by affecting metabolic pathways. Since these are pilot studies, the content of chlorophyll, carotenoids, proline and polyphenols was chosen as indicators of changes in plants. The experiment was carried out under controlled environmental conditions on a very early cultivar Irys. The obtained results showed that foliar treatment of plants with extracts from Artemisia vulgaris L. had a positive effect on the increase of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b content and its total concentration in potato leaves. The highest increase in the total chlorophyll content, amounting to 26.27% on average, was observed in plants sprayed with macerate at the dose of 0.6 mL·plant-1. Additionally, an increase in the carotenoids content was observed in plants sprayed with macerate. The study demonstrated that the polyphenols level was largely dependent on the method of extracts production and the dose of the tested extracts. Macerate and infusion applied in a higher dose induced in plants the changes in the concentration of polyphenols. The overall evaluation of the effectiveness of the tested preparations showed higher effectiveness of the macerate for all the analyzed traits.