The evaluation of agronomic characters and artemisinin content of EMS-mutated artemisia lines

Abstract

Abstract The cases of malaria in Indonesia are high, especially in Eastern Indonesia, while the basic raw materials for malaria drugs are still imported. Artemisia (Artemisia annua L.) produces artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone compound, to treat malaria. Artemisinin content of Artemisia growing in Indonesia is low, therefore technological support is needed to produce new varieties of artemisia that have high artemisinin content. In vitro mutagenesis could increase plant genetic diversity which is the main requirement in plant breeding. The application of Ethyl Methane Sulphonate (EMS) to the artemisia cell population has been carried out and nine 3rd generations of artemisia mutant lines were obtained. This study aims to evaluate the growth of artemisia mutant lines based on their agronomic characters and artemisinin content. The research was conducted in Lembang, Bandung in July - December 2022. A completely randomized block design was used. The results showed that EMS affected growth characteristics that correlated with plant productivity, i.e. plant height, number of branches, stem diameter, and artemisinin content. Of the nine tested lines, at least 7 had higher plant height, number of branches, wet weight, and dry weight than the control. The artemisinin content of the mutants ranged from 0.67 to 1.02%, while the artemisinin content of the control was 0.4%. The increasing artemisinin content of these mutants reached 1.5 times compared to the control, and the mutant lines’ yields reached 2 times that of the control. The diversity of plants can also be seen from the differences in the color of the stems.