ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HONEY CROP (STEVIA REBAUDIANA) IN HOT SEMI ARID CLIMATE

S. Javad, S. Naz, S. Ilyas and B. Mateen

Department of Biotechnology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore.
Correspondence email address: drsnaz31@hotmail.com, zif_4@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

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’ means were compared for significance by Duncan’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.
Key words: Stevia, BAP, honey crop, sweetener, stevioside.