SELECTION OF HIGH ARTEMISININ YIELDING ARTEMISIA-ANNUA

Artemisia annua L. seeds from North Viet Nam were germinated and conti nuously propagated by tissue culture technique. Three-week-old plantle ts were transplanted from the laboratory into the field under tropical climatic conditions and assayed for artemisinin at different stages o f growth. The plants had short stature (100 cm), early flowering (14 w eeks), short growth span (18-20 weeks), variable artemisinin content a nd produced no seeds. The highest artemisinin yield was found in the l eaves of twelve (0.13 - 0.31%) to thirteen (0.12-0.39%) weeks old plan ts during pre-flowering periods. Plantlets in the test tubes were rand omly selected and cloned. Statistical comparison of the artemisinin co ntent from the various clones indicated that they may be grouped as hi gh (0.41 - 0.42%), moderate (0.25 - 0.26%), and low (0.13%) artemisini n yielders.