Agricultural and Biological Research

Effect of organo-mineral fertilisation on the growth of Artemisia afra plants from vegetative propagation plants in Burkina Faso

Edmond Dondasse*, Adama Pascal Kihindo, Badoua Badiel, Razacswende Fanta Ouedraogo, Felix Kologo, Gerard Zombre

Artemisia afra is a perennial plant native to South Africa, cultivated mainly for its antimalarial properties. The plant gives few or practically no seeds for its reproduction, with low leaf yields due to the poor original soils conditions. The objectives of this study is to identify the best vegetative propagation technique for A. afra and to determine the effect of fertilization of plant growth. Two vegetative propagation techniques were evaluated, namely cuttings and layering. For these techniques different fertilizers were applied. The treatment used consisted of eight levels for cuttings and six levels for layering. The results show that layering is more effective than cuttings. For layering, Compost (CO) and Bokashi plus Compost (BC) significantly (p<0.0001) increased above-ground and root biomass. These fertilisers also improved transpiration (0.1 kg of water lost in 24 hours). Based on these results, layering improves the propagation of A. afra plants and the use of compost alone is sufficient to improve plant growth.