Insecticidal Property of in Vitro Grown Withania Somnifera : New dimensions to biopesticide studies

The use of biopesticide to control food pests is a potent research field. Combining it with the knowledge of plant tissue culture and other techniques is gaining interest of many scientists. Keeping this in mind a project was designed aiming to do the micro-propagation of Withania somnifera to generate callus. Different plant parts like roots, stems and leaves etc. of Withania were also collected from wild conditions. An insectcidal study was conducted using Tribolium as an insect model of food storage pests. The insects were treated with different concentrations of extracts obtained from different plant parts and in vitro grown callus.