Domestication and breeding of Artemisia absinthium strains: discriminating between genetics and environmental factors determining their thujone content

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) is a well-known medicinal and aromatic plant, used notably for the production of famous aperitif drinks. The chemical composition of the raw plant material, especially its content of α-thujone and β-thujone, is important in order to assure high quality standard of the final product, as well as to respect legal requirements. Therefore, the agricultural production of selected lines is justified. Today, the species is still at a very early stage of its domestication process, and the genetic and environmental parts of the variations observed in the phytochemical profile of plants from different origins are still poorly documented.

To discriminate between the effects of genetic and environmental factors on thujone content, explants from 2 genotypes, selected in two different populations, were produced by in vitro micropropagation. The two batches of genetically homogeneous plants thus obtained were planted in four stations with variable environmental conditions. Plants were harvested in mid-July and their α-thujone and β-thujone contents analysed by GC-MS (gas chromatography – mass spectrometry).

A two-way ANOVA applied to α-thujone and β-thujone contents show that α-thujone content appears to be partially influenced by genotype and also by environmental conditions, while β-thujone content seems to be mostly influenced by the genotype. Other trials carried out with other strains issued from seeds, planted in various geographic locations, gave similar results. A new campaign of harvesting and analysis of samples is planned in 2023 to investigate influences of these variables on more secondary metabolites.

 

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023