PRODUCTION PACKAGE FOR ASHWAGANDHA – THE INDIAN GINSENG

Haripriya.S
Horticultural College and Research Institute
Tamil Nadu Agricultural university, Coimbatore – 641 003

Withania somnifera of Solanaceae family, commonly known as ‘ashwagandha’ is one of the

most important medicinal plants which is used alone or in combination with other medicinal plants
in various herbal formulations and sold in the market under different trade names. An erect
branched under shrub up to 1.25 m in height, minutely stellate tomentose.The plant is also used in
traditional medicine system in several countries as narcotic, anti-epileptic, against female sterility,
hypotonic, for stomachache, ulcers, colds, rashes, gonorrhoea, sedative, and for its antiseptic properties.
In India, Ashwagandha is cultivated in 5000 ha in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. Traditionally, Asgandh is considered as a very low input crop and cultivators
normally do not use any fertilizer for commercial cultivation in India. In this context, an outline
about the standard scientific cultivation practice of ashwagandha was given as follows,

Seedling production at the Nursery

The raised seedbeds of 2.0 m length, 1.0 m width and 20 cm height were prepared. To each
bed, 5.0 kg of well-decomposed Farm Yard Manure was applied and mixed well. The seeds were
soaked in water for about tweleve hours, followed by soaking in GA3 500 ppm for another 12 hours
and shade dried. The shade dried seeds were mixed with sand and sown in lines of 15 cm apart. The
beds were drenched with 0.1 per cent of Copper oxy chloride to avoid damping off and watered
daily with rose can. The seeds started germinating from seventh day onwards and recorded a high
percentage (90 %) of germination. The seedlings were ready for transplanting after 45 days of
sowing.

Main field preparation

 Tillage operation was carried out by directly mounting disc (two) plough to the tractor to
cut, break and invert the soil partially or completely at a depth of 15 cm with a breast cut of 400
angles. Then, cultivators were used for stirring and pulversing the soil before planting to aerate and
loosen the soil. One ton of well decomposed farm yard manure was applied and mixed evenly in the
main field using raking.

Transplanting in main field

Before transplanting, the fields were irrigated to field capacity and forty five days old
seedlings were planted at 60X60 cm spacing. Until crop establishment, plants were irrigated two days
once in furrow irrigated plots for about a month.

Intercultural opertations

The field should be kept free of weeds by regular manual weeding at fortnightly intervals.
Plant protection measures has to be carried out as per the standard recommendations. Organic
manures like, Farm Yard Manure (FYM), Vermi-Compost, Green Manure etc. may be used as per
requirement of the species. To prevent diseases, bio-pesticides could be prepared (either single or
mixture) from Neem (kernel, seeds & leaves). Likewise, Earthing up was practised once in furrow
irrigated plots at 90 days after transplanting.

Harvesting

The maturity of the crop was judged by the drying of leaves and red coloured berries. The
entire plants were uprooted for roots and leaves, which were separated from each other by cutting
the stem 1-2 cm, above the collar region. The harvested berries were soaked in water and manually
hand threshed to obtain the seeds. The seeds were then shade dried and stored in butter paper covers
at room temperature. The roots are then either cut transversely into small pieces (7 to 10 cm) or
dried as it is in the sun. The dried roots, entire or transversely cut into smaller pieces, have to be
further cleaned, trimmed and graded.