Abstract
Seeds of the Chinese herbal plant Artemisia annua L. were treated with a magnetic field (MF) prior to sowing in order to observe the effects on germination, height, growth, artemisinin content and change in genome profile. A. annua seeds were exposed to a magnetic field (MF) strength of 75 mT for different time intervals of 15, 30 and 45 min under laboratory conditions. The MF altered seed germination (87%), shoot length (63%), and artemisinin content (66%) in T45. The MF increased the seedling dry weight by 24.12 fold in T45. MF treated plants (T15, T30, and T45) also exhibited clear differences in PCR-RAPD profile; i.e. the genomic pattern as recorded in phylogenetic trees are 51%, 44%, and 44% for T45, T30 and T15, respectively. The most significant changes were observed in plants treated with a MF for 45 minutes, but all the recorded parameters were higher in treated seed raised plantlets. The increased germination, seedling growth and related chemical and molecular attributes could possibly enhance the artemisinin productivity of the plants. In future more research into the application of MF before sowing seed is needed to see if these results can be replicated in the field.