What are the latest propagation methods for sweet wormwood?
Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb in China, with extremely high medicinal value; it can treat a variety of diseases. In addition, it is rich in artemisinin, which is the main drug for treating malaria, and it can also treat heatstroke, skin itching, hives, seborrheic dermatitis, and be used for mosquito control, etc. At present, there is already large-scale artificial cultivation, but choosing a good propagation method can increase its yield and artemisinin content. Let's take a detailed look below.
1. Site selection
The propagation methods of sweet wormwood mainly include seed propagation, cutting propagation, and tissue culture propagation. The first two require selecting a good plot of land. Sweet wormwood is a short-day plant, so the planting site should be sandy loam or loam with sufficient sunlight, guaranteed water supply, good drainage, and relatively good fertility. However, barren and dry clay soil, sand dune land, or plots with poor drainage are not suitable for planting. This point needs attention.
2. Seed propagation
Before sowing, prepare the planting site and apply fertilizer. Generally, 500 kg of decomposed farmyard manure is applied per mu. After raking fine and leveling, make raised beds. When sowing, select excellent varieties with relatively high artemisinin content, mix them evenly with fine soil at a ratio of 100:1, then evenly broadcast them on the ground and cover with a layer of plant ash or burnt soil. After sowing, build an arched shed and cover it with film. After emergence, if the temperature inside the shed exceeds 25 degrees, ventilate promptly to lower the temperature, and close it promptly at dusk. During drought, also remove the film promptly, water thoroughly, and then cover again. During the rainy season, drain promptly. During the seedling stage, do a good job of intertillage, weeding, thinning, and filling gaps. When seedlings grow to 5-6 cm, apply diluted fertilizer water promptly to promote seedling growth.
3. Cutting propagation
In July-August, collect top branches from robustly growing plants as cuttings, cut them to a length of 10-15 cm, and require that they have buds and leaves. When cutting, cut the lower end into a wedge shape, remove the basal leaves, keep 2-3 leaves at the top, and insert them into the ground at a spacing of 10 cm × 20 cm. The cutting depth is about 5-8 cm, that is, about half the length of the cutting.
4. Tissue propagation
When the plant grows to a height of 30-50 cm, separate the young pods from its lateral buds as explants. After rinsing the young pods clean and subjecting them to aseptic treatment, soak them in 75% alcohol for 30 seconds, then soak them in a very low concentration mercuric chloride solution for 5-6 minutes, then rinse them several times with distilled water, and cut them into small bud-bearing segments of about 1 cm for tissue culture. This is a new propagation method from modern research, which can effectively increase the artemisinin content of sweet wormwood, but it is not suitable for use in production and is suitable for medical research.
The above is an introduction to the propagation methods of sweet wormwood. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please follow us.