Abstract

IMPACT OF ORGANIC MANURE AMENDMENT ON GROWTH OF WITHANIA SOMNIFERA (L.) DUNAL VAR JA-20

*Chaudhary Sheetal Shravankumar and Datta Soumana

Abstract

Withaniasomnifera (L.) Dunal, also known as Indian ginseng, Indian Winter Cherry is one of the mostvalued plants in Ayurveda and is commonly used in Indiantraditional health care systems. The roots of this plant have been employed in Indian traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda and Unani. A large number of withanolides have been identified in Withania roots and leaves. Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are the major Ashwagandha producing states of the country. The organic cultivation of Withaniasomnifera, being a medicinal herb, is highly beneficial toboost the exports and to get premium price in the worldmarket. With this concept in view, the presentinvestigation was made to study the effect of organicamendments on growth in Withaniasomnifera variety J A-20. Four treatments namely C-control (no manure), T1-Vermicompost only, T2-combination of Vermicompost and Goat manure and T3-Goat manure only were given to the plant. All the growth parameters increased significantly (P≤0.05) in treatment T1, T2 andT3indicating the efficacy of these treatments.

Keywords: Withaniasomnifera, Ashwagandha, Ayurveda, organicamendments, Vermicompost, Goat manure.