The effect of 6 years of cultivation and use of table-sugar (TS) on the biomass/terpene alkaloid productivities and rol gene expression were studied in a hairy root (HR) clone of Rauvolfia serpentina. The media cost could be reduced > 94 % by replacing sucrose (SUC) with TS-an unexplored avenue for HR cultivation. The overall productivities increased over long-term cultivation with sugar proving superior to SUC for biomass (24.4 +/- A 2.11 g/l DW after 40 days to 17.31 % higher) and reserpine (0.094 +/- A 0.008 % DW after 60 days to 193.8 % more) production. The latter however revealed comparatively better yields concerning ajmaline (0.507 +/- A 0.048 % DW after 60 days to 61.98 % higher) and yohimbine (0.628 +/- A 0.062 % DW after 60 days to 38.32 % higher), respectively. PCR amplification of rol genes confirmed long-term expression stability.