New hybrid lines of the antimalarial species Artemisia annua L. guarantee its growth in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Malaria is still one of the greatest causes of mortality in the world; in Brazil there are over 500,000 reported cases each year. Malaria, caused by the protozoan Plasmodium, has been aggravated by the increasing resistance of Plasmodium to the traditional drugs chloroquine and mefloquine. The study of new drugs resulted in the identification of antimalarial activities of an endoperoxide sesquiterpene lactone, called qinghaosu or atemisinin, extracted from the leaves of Artemisinin annua L., of the Asteraceae family. The research work developed at MEDIPLANT (Switzerland) and CPQBA-UNICAPM (Brazil) involved the selection and breeding of genotypes rich in artemisinin and presenting high biomass followed by a second selection for adaptation to Brazilian climatic conditions. Through controlled hybridization between selected genotypes from China and Vietnam, genetic gain was obtained in terms of artemisinin content and population uniformity. Through the increase of biomass and artemisinin content (estimated by analytical monitoring), it was possible to increase the artemisinin production of 5 Kg/ha for the base population to approximately 25 Kg/ha for the genetically bred population. In the cultivation carried out in Brazil, 3 of 7 hybrid lines, 2/39 x 1V, Ch x Viet.55 and 1V x 2/43 produced respectively 25.43, 23.05 and 21.27 Kg of artemisinin/ha/cut, with 2 harvests possible per year. The cultivation of these new hybrid lines in Brazil is technically feasible and highly competitive, due to the production obtained.