BREEDING FOR ATROPINE 



Great Variation in Alkaloidal Content of Belladonna Plants Promises Results to 

 Selection External Characters of Plant Seem to Give a Clue to Its 



Chemical Content 



L. \Va\xi-: Arxv 

 Director, 11. 1\ . MitU'ord Co. Experimental Drug Gardens. (ilcnoUlcn. Pa. 



THE high prices jmid for crude 

 drugs, l:)rought abovit Ijy the 

 abnormal economic conditions 

 of the last few years, have stimu- 

 lated a wide and ])o]xilar interest in 

 the cultivation of the plants yielding 

 these products. Unfortunately for the 

 crude drug industry, a great part of 

 this interest has been aroused merely 

 from a view toward financial invest- 

 ment and the real issues at hand ha\-e 

 been generally overlooked. 



There is no question but that America 

 must grow a large part of her dnig 

 supply in the future since the drug 

 importations are \'early becoming less 

 dependable. The adulterations which 

 are being made by collectors of crude 

 drugs render the jjurchase of these 

 ])lants u])on the open markets extremely 

 unsatisfactory and if the American 

 manufacturer of ])harmaceuticals is to 

 produce articles of high grade, he must 

 either grow his own vegetable drugs or 

 oljtain them from someone who he 

 knows is growing them honestly. 



Certain economic facts, however, must 

 be considered. Comjjetition with luiro- 

 l)ean peasant labor greatly reduces the 

 chances of financial ]>rofit from Ameri- 

 can production, and unless some stej) 

 can be taken to pnxluce drugs su])erior 

 to those of European origin, no hope 

 can be found for such an industry in 

 America upon a i)urely financial basis. 

 It is ]jrobable, howe\'er, that such im- 

 provement can be brought about, and 

 the comi)ctition will be changed from 

 ([uantity against quantity to equality 

 against cjuantity. Stating the case 



in a more simple way it ma>' l)e said 

 that financial success in the cultivation 

 of drug jjlants depends ujion the ix)s- 

 sibility of increasing the alkaloid con- 

 tent of these plants by ])lant breeding 

 methods. 



The object of this i)a])er is to point 

 out to breeders who are • interested in 

 this field of work the o])]jortunity which 

 these ])lants offer for selective methods 

 of improvement. The resulting im- 

 pro\'ement from research work in this 

 direction not onl\' will afford the satis- 

 faction which is coincident with accom- 

 plishment, but will provide raw mate- 

 rials of unifonn and high quality to the 

 exacting professions of medicine and 

 ])harmacy. This surcl\- then is a worthy 

 field for exi)erimental effort. It at once 

 becomes ex'ident that the work of in- 

 creasing alkaloids in a plant difTers 

 from that of increasing size, changing 

 color or fonn. The investigator is 

 dealing with unseen characters. 



IJTTLI-; HVBRIDlZ.\TIOX DONE 



Hybridizing drug plants has been 

 altcmi)te(l by several workers and 

 under varying conditions but in general 

 little result has been gotten from this 

 method. There may be exceptions to 

 this statement, such as cinchona;^ but 

 esi)ecially with i)lants of the temperate 

 zone, the great majority of crossing 

 ex]jeriments have resulted only in a 

 chaotic juml)le of characters without 

 meaning. This is to be expected when 

 we keep in mind the class of ])lants with 

 which we are dealing. 



The most serious effort then must 



' 'l"he South Anicritan cinchona tree, from the l>ark of whiih c|uininc' is sivuroi, has hcen 

 iiiiprovfd by lirccders in Java, who have sdcclcd the l)est of many natural lnl)ri<ls, and propa- 

 fjated them asexually. This is usually referred to as the only dru)^ ])lant which has been improved 

 through hybridizing; but so far as I am aware, there is no record of really scientific breeding hav- 

 ing l)een done with it. 



164 



