PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON ARTEMISIA ANNUA L. (ASTERACEAE) GROWN IN GHANA: MORPHOLOGY, MICROSCOPY AND ARTEMISININ YIELD

Artemisia annua L. is an herbaceous plant from which the antimalarial sesquiterpene lactone, Artemisinin, is obtained. In Ghana, Artemisinin-Combination therapies are used as first-line treatment for managing malaria. The present study, the first of its kind in Ghana, sought to carry out the preliminary morphological and phytochemical evaluation and investigate the artemisinin content of Artemisia annua planted in Ghana. Seeds of A. annua were planted, and the dimensions of the shoots of the germinated seedlings were taken from week one till maturity. Qualitative phytochemical analysis was performed on the powdered plant parts following standard techniques. The artemisinin contents of the leaves and stem were determined using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with a triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS) using Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) modes. Morphological observation showed that the Ghanaian grown A. Annua attained an average height of 36.94 cm at maturity. The leaves are lobed and have a strong aromatic odour. The ethanol and petroleum ether extracts of leaves, stem and roots s tested positive for secondary metabolites such as phenols and alkaloids. The artemisinin content was highest in the powdered leaf (0.2% – 0.24%), while the ethanol extracts of the leaves, stem, and roots contained no artemisinin. All these findings serve as preliminary data for further studies on Ghanaian-grown A. annua.