ORIGINAL PAPER Comparative GC–FID and GC–MS analysis of the mono and sesquiterpene secondary metabolites produced by the field grown and micropropagated plants of Artemisia amygdalina Decne Manzoor A. Rather • Bashir A. Ganai • Azra N. Kamili • Mubashir Qayoom • Seema Akbar • Akbar Masood • Rafia Rasool • Sajad H. Wani • Mushtaq A. Qurishi Received: 20 May 2011 / Revised: 1 October 2011 / Accepted: 18 October 2011 / Published online: 5 November 2011 Ó Franciszek Go ´rski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krako ´w 2011 Abstract The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of micropropagated plants of Artemisia amygdalina was analyzed by capillary GC–FID and GC–MS and compared with that obtained from the leaves of field growing parent plants. The oil yield from the micropropagated plants was lower (0.05% v/w) than the oil yield obtained from field-grown plants (0.2% v/w). The major constituents of the field-grown plants were p-cymene (21.0%), 1,8-cineole (24.9%), a-terpineol (5.9%), b-caryophyllene (4.7%), germacrene D (4.0%), while as the major constituents from the micropropagated plants were p-cymene (11.3%),1,8-cineole (10.2%), borneol (7.9%), a-longipinene (5.5%), a-copaene (5.5%) and b-caryophyllene (17%). The essential oil from field-grown plant was dominated by the presence of oxygen- ated monoterpenes (41.5%), monoterpene hydrocarbons (35.9%) and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (16.3%) while as the essential oil of micropropagated plants was characterized by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (40.0%), oxygenated monoter- penes (25.2%) and monoterpene hydrocarbons (21.6%). Keywords Artemisia amygdalina Decne Á Asteraceae Á Micropropagated plants Á GC–MS Á 1,8-Cineole Á p-Cymene Abbreviations GC–FID Gas chromatography–flame ionization detector GC–MS Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry BAP Benzyl amino purine NAA Napthalene acetic acid Introduction Artemisia amygdalina Decne locally known as ‘‘Veer Thethven’’ (Kashmir) is a critically endangered and ende- mic species of the Himalayan region of Pakistan and Kashmir. It is a tall, stout stemmed leafy aromatic perennial herb with simple serrate leaves which are hoary tomentose beneath and glabrous green above, flower heads 2–3 mm borne in short axillary racemes. In the traditional system of medicine, the plant is used by locals for the treatment of cough, cold, worms etc. (Qaisar 2006). Despite being a very important ethno-medicinal angiosperm species, the plant has received little attention and is now restricted to small pockets of the Kashmir Himalayas. The plant has now been domesticated in experimental plot of Kashmir University Botanical Garden (KUBG) (Dar et al. 2006). Because of the restricted distribution, A. amygdalina is still phytochemi- cally unexplored. The research and development in bio- technology for the production of secondary metabolites Communicated by S. Weidner. M. A. Rather (&) Á S. H. Wani Natural Product Chemistry Division, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Srinagar 190005, India e-mail: manzooriiim@gmail.com B. A. Ganai (&) Á M. Qayoom Á A. Masood Á R. Rasool Department of Biochemistry, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, India e-mail: bbcganai@gmail.com A. N. Kamili Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory, Centre of Research for Development, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, India S. Akbar Laboratory of the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, India M. A. Qurishi Department of Chemistry, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, India 123 Acta Physiol Plant (2012) 34:885–890 DOI 10.1007/s11738-011-0886-6