PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. (Dunal), Solanaceae, 2n=48) is one of the most popular Indian medicinal plants.  The plants are highly heterozygous and perennial in nature, thus, leading to variations in the concentration and quantities of secondary metabolites. The present investigation has been carried out to identify the elite strains of Withania somnifera through high performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) fingerprint and to conserve the plant through in vitro culture. HPTLC purification and quantification of different extracts yielded highest amount of 11.695 µg of withanolide A per 300 µg of tissue powder from the plant collected from Allahabad region in comparison to those collected from different geographic regions of Odisha. High frequency plant regeneration was obtained from the leaf explants with an intervening callus phase compared to direct regeneration process. The highest number of plantlets (12/ clump) were regenerated from callus induced by phytohormone, 2, 4-D (2 mg/L) under the influence of 6-Benzylaminopurine at a concentration of 2.5 mg/L. Profuse and healthy roots could be induced in Murashige & Skoog’s nutrient medium fortified with 1-Naphthalene acetic acid (0.1 mg/L). Acclimatization of these in vitro regenerated plants has been standardized. The elite chemotype containing higher content of withanolide A collected from Allahabad region of UP may be in vitro multiplied for commercial cultivation for which the protocol has been developed under the current investigation.