17 S. Javad S. Naz S. Ilyas B. Mateen Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences JAPS 20132013/02/01 23 1 108-113 1018-7081 NA <p>Stevia rebaudiana is native plant of tropical climate of Brazil and Paraguay. Its leaves produce a sweetener- stevioside which is 150-300 times sweeter than cane sugar. An attempt is made to grow this plant in hot semi arid climate of Lahore region of Pakistan through tissue culture technique. A completely randomized design was used for the experiment with three replicates. The data was analyzed by applying one way ANOVA and the treatments&rsquo; means were compared for significance by Duncan&rsquo;s New Multiple Range (DMR) test at 0.05% P. MS media supplemented with different concentrations of BAP (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mg/l), kinetin (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mg/l) and combination of BAP and kinetin were used and BAP 1 mg/l proved to be the better micropropagating medium for Stevia rebaudiana as compared to other media. Whilst rooting of micro shoots of the Stevia gave the best response in MS+ IBA 0.4 mg/l. then these mericlones were hardened in green house in different soil mixtures among which the best mixture was sand, clay and vermicompost in the ratio of 1:1:1 with 85% survival rate. These semi hardened plants were then shifted to larger pots and open field of hot semi arid climate of Lahore and developed successfully.</p> Stevia, BAP, honey crop, sweetener, stevioside Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum https://thejaps.org.pk/AbstractView.aspx?mid=2013-JAPS-117