Effect of Habitat Height on Artemisinin Production and the Existence of Chemotype in Artemisia Species

The study aimed to explore novel artemisinin plant sources as an alternative to Artemisia annua, to study the effect of habitat height on artemisinin concentration, and to find out the existence of chemotypes in Artemisia species. A total of seven species growing at three different heights were selected for this study. Artemisinin was extracted from the leaf, stem, and root parts of all Artemisia species and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. Height variation showed a significant effect on the artemisinin concentration of these Artemisia species. In three Artemisia species, i.e., Artemisia moorcroftiana, Artemisia vestita, and Artemisia roxburghiana var. roxburghiana, an increase in artemisinin content of leaves was detected at height II (0.09%, 0.08%, and 0.07% of dry weight, respectively). Contrarily, Artemisia sieversiana showed high artemisinin content (0.08% of dry weight) at height I, while in Artemisia vulgaris, high artemisinin content was detected at height II and height III (0.06% and 0.07% of dry weight, respectively). The current study concludes that plant geographical habitat height affects the artemisinin production of Artemisia species and further concludes that chemotypes exist in its different species.