Carbon sources and medium pH affects the growth of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal adventitious roots and withanolide A production.

This work deals with optimisation of adventitious root suspension culture of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Solanaceae) for the production of biomass and withanolide A and we investigated the effect of carbon source and the initial medium pH on growth and production of withanolide A in adventitious root cultures of Withania somnifera. A 2% sucrose concentration was found to be best for both biomass (113.58 g L(-1) fresh weight (FW) and 11.33 g L(-1) dry weight (DW)) and secondary metabolite accumulation (8.93 mg g(-1) DW) in the tested range of concentration (1-8%). The biomass of adventitious roots was optimal when the initial medium pH was 5.8 (113.26 g L(-1) FW and 11.33 g L(-1) DW) but the withanolide A production was highest at the medium pH level of 5.5 (9.09 mg g(-1) DW).