Cropping of the artemisinin (antimalarial drug) yielding Artemisia annua cultivars, over a ten year period in the agroclimate of north-west India, has not led to the species becoming a weed

Abstract

The antimalarial drug artemisinin is extracted from the leaves and flowers, harvested from the naturally growing and cultivated populations, of the asteraceae plant Artemisia annua. The species is indigenous to Chongqing region of China where it is a weed and is found growing into extensive wild populations. It has become naturalized (weed) in several agroclimates of its introduction in Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South Americas. A. annua is now beginning to be cultivated in several agroclimates of India. Agrotechnologies suitable for cultivating A. annua in the Indo-gangetic and North- West Indian plains have been developed and introduced with the farmers. Here, the potential of A. annua becoming a weed, in the areas of its cultivation, has been assessed under the New Delhi agroclimatic conditions. Single plants of A. annua were observed to produce about 0.14×106 viable seeds. Cultivation of A. annua in field plots at two locations and enumeration of plants outside the plots of cultivation over a 10 year period was observed not to lead to escape of the plant into areas adjacent to the plots of A. annua cultivation. It is concluded that A. annua, despite being a prolific producer of seeds, is unlikely to become a weed in the agroclimate of north-west plains region of India. Therefore, subtropical agroclimates such as that of north-west Indian plains offer comparative advantage for the cultivation of the domesticated A. annua for artemisinin production.