Tissue cultures of Artemisia annua: Organogenesis and artemisinin production

Seeds of Artemisia annua obtained from different locations Europe(P1), Michigan USA (P2), Washington USA (P3), Hoechst India (P4) and Lucknow (P5) were germinated and grown in an experimental field station. The plants were harvested during the early flowering stage and analysed for artemisinin and arteannuin‐B. Plants from Europe produced the highest level of artemisinin (6.50 mg% fresh weight (F.‐W.)) and those from Lucknow produced the highest level of arteannuin‐B (21.42 mg% F.W.). Callus initiation and growth was achieved on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with BA (1 ppm) + NAA (1 ppm) from the five plant types. The European variety gave multiple shoots in BA (0.1 ppm) + IAA (1 ppm) medium and root formation in NAA (1 ppm) + Kn (0.1 ppm) medium. Artemisinin and atreannuin‐B were detected in cultures of the European variety with complete differentiation (0.95 mg% F.W. and 6.57 mg% F.W. respectively).