Vegetos

Abstract

Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni), known to be an anti-diabetic medicinal herb, belongs to Asteraceae family which has bioactive compounds stevioside and rebaudioside in its leaves that taste about 300–350 times sweeter than sucrose. Nodal segments were cultured in half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with kinetin (Kn) and benzylaminopurine (BAP), alone and in combination (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mg L⁻¹), for shoot proliferation while various concentrations of auxins i.e. indole acetic acid (IAA) and indole butyric acid (IBA) (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mg L⁻¹), alone or in combination with different cytokinins, for rooting. Almost in all the cultures shoot primordia initiation was observed 2–5 days after the inoculation. Overall, from the economical point of view, half-strength MS media with 0.2 mg L⁻¹ Kn was the best producing maximum number of shoot (3.00 ± 0.00), shoot length (7.13 ± 0.43) and number of leaves (27.75±0.85), after 60 days of inoculation. However, after 30 days of transfer in rooting media supplemented with combined IBA (2.0 mg L⁻¹) and Kn (0.5 mg L⁻¹) showed best response in number of roots (10.00 ± 0.41) and length of root (cm) (6.73 ± 0.09), respectively. Regenerated plantlets were hardened in potting mixture containing perlite: sand: soil (1:1:1) for 2 months inside culture room with 70% relative humidity and later transferred in green house for 8 weeks before final transfer into the field. This micro-propagation method using half-strength MS media could be economical and effectively used for mass production of Stevia rebaudiana under in vitro condition.