Growth Response of Artemisia annua by Effect of Types and Composition of Organic Fertilizer in Lowland

Abstract

Artemisia annua is a plant used to cure malaria diseases. Artemisia plant contains artemisinin as secondary metabolite that used to eliminate parasite that caused malaria, such as Plasmodium falciparum. Artemisia growth affects production of artemisinin content in plant. Therefore, necessary environment conditions and appropriate organic manure application are needed to support the growth of Artemisia. This research aimed to determine the effect of fertilizer type and proportion in the medium on the Artemisia growth. This research was conducted at greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, in October 2015 to January 2016. This research used a completely randomized design (CRD), consisting of two factors of treatment with three replications. The first factor was type of fertilizer that consists of three types: horse manure fertilizer, compost filter press mud and cow manure fertilizer. The second factor was proportion of fertilizer with media consisted of five levels: fertilizer as media, proportion of fertilizer with media 4:1, 3:2, 2:3 and 1:4. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and Duncan’s multiple range test with level of 5%. It can be concluded that treatment with compost filter press mud provided the highest of plant height, root length, days to flowering, root volume, fresh weight and dry weight of crop.