Effect of Basal Medium on In Vitro Leaf Morphology, Growth and Artemisinin Production of Artemisia annua L.

Artemisia annua L. was classified as one of the important medicinal plants due to its potential in the treatment of malaria. However, the propagation of this plant was limited by environmental and geographical factors. Therefore, in vitro culture technique was an alternative to overcome these limitations. Five different basal media were examined for their effect on the growth and artemisinin content of in vitro plantlets of A. annua. They were found to give different effect on the growth in term of height, fresh biomass and rooting ability of the plantlets. Glandular and non-glandular filamentous trichomes were observed on the adaxial and abaxial surface of A. annua leaf. The five basal media was found to affect the distribution and the number of trichomes and stomata formed on the leaf surfaces. LV medium induced more trichomes formation of both types on both leaf surfaces. Highest number of stomata was found on the leaf surface of the plantlets cultured in MS medium. While B5 medium resulted in non formation of stomata on the abaxial leaf surface of all the studied clones. Artemisinin production was found to greatly affect by the choice of basal medium used for cultivation. Keywords: Artemisia annua, artemisinin, basal medium, growth pattern, stomata, trichome