late kharif crop and planting is done in August. Seeds are either broadcast-sown or seedlings
are raised in nursery and then transplanted. Seed rate is 10-12 kg/ha for broadcasting and
5kg/ha for transplanting. In direct sown crop plants are thinned and gap filling is done 25- 30
days after sowing. Seeds should be treated with Dithane M-45 at 3g/kg of seeds before
sowing. Seeds are sown in the nursery just before the onset of rainy season and covered with
light soil. Seeds germinate in 6-7 days. When seedlings are six weeks old they are
transplanted at 60cm in furrows taken 60cm apart. The crop is mainly grown as a rainfed crop
on residual fertility and no manure or fertilizers are applied to this crop generally. However,
application of organic manure is beneficial for realizing better yields. It is not a fertilizer
responsive crop. One hand weeding 25-30 days after sowing helps to control weeds
effectively. No serious pest is reported in this crop. Diseases like seedling rot and blight are
observed. Seedling mortality becomes serious under high temperature and humid conditions.
The disease can be minimized by use of disease free seeds and treatment with thiram or
deltan at 3-4g/kg seed before sowing. Further, use of crop rotation, timely sowing and
keeping field well drained also protect the crop. Spraying with 0.3% fytolan, dithane Z-78 or
dithane M-45 will help controlling the disease incidence. Spraying is repeated at 15 days
interval if the disease persists. Aswagandha is a crop of 150-170 days duration. The maturity
of the crop is judged by the drying of the leaves and reddening of berries. Harvesting usually
starts from January and continues till March. Roots, leaves and seeds are the economical
parts. The entire plant is uprooted for roots, which are separated from the aerial parts. The
berries are plucked from dried plants and are threshed to obtain the seeds. The yield is 400-
500kg of dry roots and 50-75kg seeds per hectare.
Post harvest technology
The roots are separated from the plant by cutting the stem 1-2cm above the crown.
Roots are then cut into small pieces of 7-10cm to facilitate drying. Occasionally, the roots are
dried as a whole. The dried roots are cleaned, trimmed, graded, packed and marketed. Roots
are carefully hand sorted into the following four grades.
Grade A : Root pieces 7cm long, 1-1.5cm diameter, brittle, solid, and pure
white from outside.
Grade B : Root pieces 5cm long, 1cm diameter, brittle, solid and white from
outside.
Grade C : Root pieces 3-4cm long, less than 1cm diameter and solid.
Lower grade : Root pieces smaller, hollow and yellowish from outside.
Properties and activity
Aswagandha roots contain alkaloids, starch, reducing sugar, hentriacontane,
glycosides, dulcital, withaniol acid and a neutral compound. Wide variation (0.13-0.31%) is
observed in alkaloid content. Majumdar (1955) isolated 8 amorphous bases such as
withanine, somniferine, somniferinine, somnine, withananine, withananinine,
pseudowithanine and withasomnine. Other alkaloids reported are nicotine, tropine,
pseudotropine, 3,α-tigloyloxytropane, choline, cuscudohygrine, anaferine, anahygrine and
others. Free aminoacids in the roots include aspartic acid, glycine, tyrosine, alanine, proline,
tryptophan, glutamic acid and cystine. Leaves contain 12 withanolides, alkaloids, glycosides,
glucose and free amino acids. Berries contain a milk coagulating enzyme, two esterases, free
amino acids, fatty oil, essential oil and alkaloids. Methods for alkaloid’s analysis in Asgandh
roots have also been reported (Majumdar, 1955; Mishra, 1989; Maheshwari, 1989). Withania
roots are astringent, bitter, acrid, somniferous, thermogenic, stimulant, aphrodisiac, diuretic
and tonic. Leaf is antibiotic, antitumourous, antihepatotoxic and antiinflammatory. Seed is
milk coagulating, hypnotic and diuretic.