Kuldeepsingh A. Kalariya1*, Parmeshwar Lal Saran1 and Ram Prasnna Meena1
1ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, Boriavi, Anand, (Gujarat) India
Email: kuldeep.kalariya@icar.gov.in
Received-03.01.2023, Revised-13.01.2023, Accepted-25.01.2023
Abstract: Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera Dunal. Linn.); a root medicinal plant is also known with other names like Indian ginseng, Queen of Ayurveda, Winter cherry and Ajagandha. It is distributed inthe major area in the central-western provinces of India. It is containing withaferin-A, 12-deoxywithastramonolide, and withanolide A as the major bioactive compounds with pharmacological importance.Hadda beetles (Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata); a polyphagous pest is reported to attack this plant however, there is no information available on the impact of the said pest on growth, development and yield of ashwagandha due to hadda beetle attack. In an early (June) sown ashwagandha crop, the attack of the hadda beetle caused severe defoliation in August and September. The intensity of the defoliation was so high that almost 95% of the leaves were defoliated. This has resulted in an altered biomass accumulation pattern causing the leaf mass fraction to decline from 0.184 in August to 0.041 in September. This was not a true representation of functional partitioning as photosynthates were already invested in leaves which were being eaten up by the pest. Further, a true recording of biomass allocation could not be done in a condition when biomass data of a leaf became unavailable due to severe defoliation caused by the attack of haddabeetles in ashwagandha.
Keywords: Ashwagandha, Biomass allocation, Defoliation, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata, Leaf mass fraction
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