Interaction between Piriformospora indica and Azotobacter chroococcum governs better plant physiological and biochemical parameters in Artemisia annua L. plants grown under in vitro conditions

Artemisinin and its derivatives have been used in artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) for treatment of malaria. The drug artemisinin is produced in the leaves of Artemisia annua. The escalating demands of ACTs together with minor concentration of artemisinin in leaves (0.01–1.1%) of A. annua L. has necessitated advent of viable methods to meet this growing demand. In the present study, symbiotic microbes; Piriformospora indica (Pi) and Azotobacter chroococcum (Az) were used singly and in combination (Pi +Az) to investigate their effect on in vitro grown A. annua L. plants. For co-cultivation of A. annua L. plantlets with symbiotic microbes, four weeks old rooted plantlets were used. Results showed that interaction of in vitro raised plantlets with dual inoculants significantly enhanced the plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, total soluble sugar, soluble protein, flavonoids content compared to control plants. The plant growth and rest of the parameters were enhanced in the treatments with single inoculants and were higher in plants inoculated with Pi than Az. A significant enhancement of 2-fold in artemisinin content was also observed in treatments receiving both inoculants. The physiological and biochemical parameters in these tested treatments improved significantly in the order (Pi +Az) > (Pi) > (Az).