10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 6 Issue 1 2015 (January - March) Withanolides are a group of naturally occurring steroidal lactones present in roots and leaves of lessThan i greaterThan Withania somnifera lessThan /i greaterThan (L.) Dunal. Withanolides possesses a wide range of pharmacological activities including anticancer to treat various neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. In recent years, several pharmacological studies have been conducted to utilize lessThan i greaterThan W. somnifera lessThan /i greaterThan and several patents have been filed on the therapeutic values of withanolides. Under natural conditions, lessThan i greaterThan W. somnifera lessThan /i greaterThan possesses low levels of withanolides and lessThan i greaterThan in vitro lessThan /i greaterThan culture techniques along with metabolic engineering could be an attractive tool for solving this problem. In the present study, we have induced adventitious roots from cell suspension culture of lessThan i greaterThan W. somnifera lessThan /i greaterThan for the production of withanolides. Half strength MS liquid medium containing 0.5 mg l lessThan sup greaterThan -1 lessThan /sup greaterThan IBA in combination with 0.25 mg l lessThan sup greaterThan -1 lessThan /sup greaterThan IAA showed higher production of adventitious roots from cell suspension culture after 4 weeks. Dark condition and 3 % sucrose favored biomass productivity. The outcome of the present study shows great potential of adventitious root culture for large scale production of withanolides. CHANDRASEKARAN THILIP, CHELLAPPAN SOUNDAR RAJU, KANDHAN VARUTHARAJU, ABUBAKKER ASLAM AND APPAKAN SHAJAHAN Ashwagandha, Callus, Adventitious roots, Withanolides. 1030-1037