Nutritional trials were conducted at Yercaud (Tamil Nadu, India) with the objective of increasing root yield and to determine the optimum nutrition level in aswagandh (Withania somnifera). The results indicated that a dose of 40,60,20 kg N, P2O5 and K2O/ ha (entire dose of P2O5, K2O and 50% N basal + 50% N top dressing) recorded the highest dry root yield of 770.37 kg ha-1. There was also improvement in the length of roots, number of root primaries and total withanolides content due to the nutrient application.
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BALAKRISHNAMURTHY, D MUTHUMANICKAM, G

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Journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 8 (2) : 179-183 (1999) Studies on nutritional requirement for aswagandh (Withania somnifera Dunal) in Shevroy hills of Tamil Nadu, India D MUTHUMANICKAM & G BALAKRISHNAMURTHY Horticultural Research Station Yercaud - 636 602, Tamil Nadu, India. Abstract Nutritional trials were conducted at Yercaud (Tamil Nadu, India) with the objective of increasing root yield and to determine the optimum nutrition level in aswagandh (Withania somnifera). The results indicated that a dose of 40,60,20 kg N, p,o, and K,0/ ha (entire dose of P,O" K,0 and 50 % N basal + 50% N top dressing) recorded the highest dry root yield of 770.37 kg ha· I . There was also improvement in the length of roots, number of root primaries and total withanolides content due to the nutrient application. Key words : aswagandh, nutrition, Withania somnifera. Aswagandh (Withania somnifera Duna!) is widely used for the preparation of indigenous drugs. The leaf and root extract of the plant contain withanolides which exhibit marked activity against various diseases especially, bacterial infections. Among the several alkaloids present in aswagandh, withanine and somniferine are considered to be impor-tant and are used in the treatment of carbuncles, ulcer and painful swellings. To determine the yield potential of aswagandh, a nutritional trial was conducted at Shevroy hills of Tamil N adu, India, which is situated at eleva-tions ranging from 1200 to 1500 m above MSL and the annual rainfall ranging from 1300 to 1600 mm. The study was carried out at Horticul-tural Research Station, Yercaud during 1996 and 1997. The soil is sandy clay loam in texture, with a pH of 5.58 and electrical conductivity of 0.121 d Sm·I . The available nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium contents of the soil were 212 kg, 8.66 kg and 166.66 kg ha'" respectively. The experimental site was thoroughly ploughed and beds of 7.2 m' size were prepared. Thrity day old seedlings were planted in the main field with a spacing of 45 cm x 45 cm. The treatments imposed were N (20, 40, 60 kg ha· I ), P,O, (60, 80, 100 kg ha·I ) and K,0 (20,.40, 60 kg ha· I ) and their combinations. The treatments were replicated twice in a factorial randomised block design. At the time of planting, 50% N and entire dose of p,o, and K,0 Table 1. Effect of various nutrient levels on available soil nutrient content in shoot and root of aswagandh ::» No. Treatment (kg ha'!) Available soil nutrients (kg ha'!) Total nutrients in shoot (%) Total nutrients in root (%) 0 N P.O, 1\,0 Nitrogen Phosphoros Potassium Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium T1 20 60 20 222.3 9.16 177.5 1.54 0.70 1.26 1.29 0.63 1.19 T2 20 60 40 321.6 14.0 230.8 2.57 1.19 2.00 2.36 1.14 1.86 T3 20 60 60 315.3 13.8 223.0 2.49 1.14 1.93 2.27 1.11 1.83 T4 20 80 20 301.3 ,12.3 198.3' 2.18 0.99 1.78 2.00 0.92 1.63 T5 20 80 40 294.0 12.8 208.3 2.39 1.02 1.77 2.09 0.99 1.73 T6 20 80 60 288.0 12.5 216.6 2.41 1.09 1.90 2.18 1.04 1.79 T7 20 100 20 293.3 12.3 213.3 2.38 1.03 1.83 2.13 1.00 1.78 T8 20 100 40 283.3 12.5 202.5 2.25 0.92 1.79 2.05 0.90 1.48 T9 20 100 60 275.6 12.6 222.5 2.26 0.98 1.74 2.01 0.94 1.67 T10 40 60 20 370.6 17.1 266.6 3.10 1.46 2.44 2.85 1.32 2.27 T11 40 60 40 355.3 16.1 ,255.8 3.01 1.39, 2.30 2.76 1.24 2.17 T12 40 60 60 352.0 15.5 252.8 2.95 1.32 2.27 2.70 1.22 2.10 T13 40 80 20 343.6 15.0 249.1 2.87 1.30 2.22 2.61 1.20 2.07 T14 40 80 40 336,3 14.3 243.3 2.74 1.29 2.18 2.53 1.19 2.04 T15 40 80 60 333.0 14.1 241.6 2.66 1.25 2.08 2.46 1.18 1.97 T16 40 100 20 325.0 13.5 238.3 2.37 1.22 2.05 2.39 1.13 1.91 T17 40 100 40 287.6 12.8 211.6 2.17 1.00 1.75 1.88 0.96 1.63 T18 40 100 60 266.6 11.8 207.5 2.11 0.92 1.68 1.85 0.88 1.61 T19 60 60 20 263.6 11.1 203.3 2.02 0.94 1.64 1.79 0.89 1.51 T20 60 60 40 ' 253.6 10.6 198.3 1.93 0.92 1.60 1.67 0.84 1.48 T21 60 60 60 237.3 11.3 195.8 1.90 0.91 1.59 1.62 0.87 1.45 T22 60 80 20 254.6 10.5 190.8 1.83 0.86 1.46 1.58 0.82 1.43 T23 60 80 40 249.6 10.5 184.1 1.80 0.85 1.42 1.54 0.79 1.39 T24 60 80 60 244.6 9.5 182.6 1.74 0.86 1.43 1.51 0.86 1.37 T25 60 100 20 246.3 9.3 175.8 1.66 0.78 1.41 1.47 0.77 1.34 T26 60 100 40 242.0 9.0 172.5 1.65 0.79 1.37 1.43 0.73 1.28 . T27 60 100 60 239.3 8.8 160.8 1.23 0.77 1.33 1.36 0.71 1.24 S2 326.00 12.8 228.03 2.385 1.142 1.913 2.098 1.041 1.799 S3 273.00 10.8 200.44 1.992 0.833 1.540 1.752 0.761 1.460 CD CD CD CD CD CD CD CD CD Treatment (T) 4.42 0.87 '3.36 0.05 0.04 0.10 0.031 0.020 0.022 Stages (S) 1.44 0.28 1.09 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.008 0.006 0.007 TxS 7.66 1.51 5.87 0.09 0.08 0.18 0.007 0.005 0.039 ~ So '" ~ ~ ~ "" i f '" ;; q-> ,iii .. ).r , , I Nutritional requirement of aswagandh 181 , Table 2. Effect of nutrient application on yield attributes and withanolides content in aswagandh No. Treatment (kg ha") Plant Length of No. of root Dry root Total height root (em) primaries weight withanolides N p,o, K"O (em) {plant (kg ha") content (%) T1 20 60 20 18.01 14.00 1.50 439.50 0.23 T2 20 60 40 25.61 23.30 3.00 682.96 0.38 T3 20 60 60 25.30 23.35 2.50 680.98 0.36 T4 20 80 20 22.88 20.00 2.50 647.90 0.29 T5 20 80 40 24.16 22.75 B.Of} 6-7-7.03 0.36 T6 20 80 60 24.78 21.30 3.00 670.61 0.34 T7 20 100 20 24.38 21.05 2.50 667:16 0.33 T8 20 100 40 23.78 20.85 2.50 660.24 0.34 T9 20 100 60 23.16 20.20 2.50 653.82 0.29 T10 40 60 20 30.40 26.00 4.50 770.37 0.49 Tll 40 60 40 28.28 25.60 4.00 746.17 0.42 T12 40 60 60 24.48 25.45 4.00 722.96 0.41· T13 40 80 20 27.00 25.15 3.50 705.18 0.38 T14 40 80 40 26.83 25.05 3.50 708.64 0.38 T15 40 80 60 26.45 24.08 3.00 707.16 0.37 T16 40 100 20 26.03 24.75 3.00 694.32 0.38 T17 40 100 40 22.68 19.70 2.00 644.44 0.27 T18 40 100 60 22.41 19.05 2.50 631.60 0.29 T19 60 60 20 21.65 18.70 2.00 627.16 0.28 T20 60 60 40 21.35 18.45 2.00 622.71 0.27 T21 60 60 60 21.43 17.30 2.50 619.25 0.27 T22 60 80 20 21.41 17.20 3.00 611.85 0.27 T23 60 80 40 20.90 17.10 2.50 603.95 0.28 T24 60 80 60 20.70 16.20 2.00 599.01 0.25 T25 60 100 20 20.48 16.15 2.00 594.56 0.26 T26 60 100 40 20.30 15.85 2.00 509.62 0.26 T27 60 100 60 20.08 15.35 2.00 582.71 0.24 T28 Control 9.15 6.20 1.00 118.42 0.10 SI 8.76 S2 24.17 S3 36.42 CD CD 9D CD Treatment (T) 0.749 1.02 15.85 0.04 Stages (S) 0.245 NS NS NS TxS 1.297 NS NS NS 182 were applied as basal dose. The remain-ing 50% of N was applied as top dressing 30 days after the basal appli-cation. Soil and plant samples (shoot and root) were collected 15 days after basal application (Sl), top dressing of nitrogen (S2) and at the time of harvest (S3). The samples were analysed for N, P and K contents (Tandon 1993) and the root samples were analysed for total withanolides content (Mishra 1989). Biometric observations were recorded at the time of harvest. Significant differences were observed among the treatments both in soil nutrient status and nutrient content in shoots and roots (Table 1). Among the different treatments, application of 40, 60 and 20 kg N, P,O, and K,0 kg ha·' respectively, recorded the highest amount of available N, P and K contents of 370.6, 17.1 and 266.6 kg ha·' respec-tively, followed by the treatment appli-cation of 40, 60, 40 kg N, P,O, and K,0 kg ha·' respectively. The above treat-ment also recorded the highest total N, P and K contents of 3.10%, 1.45% and 2.24% in shoots and 2.85%, 1.32% and 2.27% in roots. Among the stages, 15 days after top dressing of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer (S2) recorded the highest amount of available N, P and K,0 contents of 326.0, 12.8 and 228.0 kg ha·' respectively, followed by 15 days basal application of fertilizers (Sl). The above stage also recorded the highest total N, P and K contents of 2.38%, 1.14% and 1.83% in shoots and 2.09%, 1.04% and 1.72% in roots. Application of nutrients also had signifi-cant effects on plant height, yield attributes and root yield (Table 2). The treatment T 10 (application of 40, 60, 20 Muthumanickam & Balakrishnamurthy kg N, P,O, and K,0ha·' ) registered the highest plant height (48.90 cm), length of root (26.00 cm/plant), number of root primaries per plant (4.50) and root yield (770.37 kg ha·'). The increase of available nutrients in soil may have helped the plant to uptake nutrients. A concomittant in-crease or decrease of nutrients in shoot and root depends upon the availability of nutrient in soil which is essential for better yield (Singh & Sarkar 1986). The interactions between various nutrient levels are known to influence N, P and K contents in both shoot and root (Roy & Seth 1971). These levels are known to increase plant height, number of root primaries and length of roots by way of better availability of nutrients in soil in aswagandh (Nigam et al. 1984). The total withanolides content was also significantly affected by various treat-ments. The treatment T,o (application of 40, 60, 20 kg N, P,O, and K,0 ha·') recorded the highest amount of total withanolides (0.47%) in root followed by the treatment Tn. In aswagandh, appli-cation of nutrients is known to increase withanolides content in root (Nigam et al. 1991). References Mishra S N 1989 Analytical methods for . anlyses of total alkaloids in root of Withania spp. Proc. All India Workshop on Medicinal and Aro-matic Plants, Faizabad, 4-7 De-cember 1989. Nigam K B, G S Rawat & Bhaywat Prasad 1984 Effect of methods of sowing, plant density and fertility level of aswagandh (Withania somnifera Dunal). South Indian Hort. 32 : 356-359. Nutritional requirement of aswagandh Nigam K B, H Patidar, V S Kandalkar & M A Pothen 1991 A new promising prerelease variety, 'WS-20' of aswagandh (Withania somnifera). Indian J. Agric. Sci. 61 : 581-582. Roy R N & J Seth 1971 Nutrient uptake and quality of radish as influ-enced by levels of nitrogen, phos-phorous and potassium and meth-ods of their application. Indian J. Hort. 28 : 144-149. 183 Singh K P & M C Sarkar 1986 Effect of fertilizer, phosphorous and farm-yard manure on inorgonic phos-phorous transformation in soils. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 31 : 209-212. Tandon H L S 1993 Methods of Analysis of Soils, Plants and Water. Fertilizer Development and Consultation Organisation, New Delhi. 

Studies on nutritional requirement for aswagandh (Withania somnifera Dunal) in Shevroy hills of Tamil Nadu, India

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Studies on nutritional requirement for aswagandh (Withania somnifera Dunal) in Shevroy hills of Tamil Nadu, India

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