Response of Stemona alkaloid production in Stemona sp. to chitosan and yeast extract elicitors

The experiments were purposed to investigate the effect of chitosan and yeast extract on Stemona alkaloid production in Stemona sp. culture. Both elicitors enhanced Stemona alkaloid production over the control. Treatment with chitosan at a concentration of 25 mg/L for 1 week resulted in the highest production of Stemona alkaloids. It was found that 1', 2'-didehydrostemofoline and stemofoline production was 2.65 fold and 2.95 fold higher than the control, respectively.