STUDY ON IN VITRO CULTURING STEVIA REBAUDIANA BERTONI AND EFFECT OF PACLOBUTRAZOL ON ACCUMULATING STEVIOSIDE, A NON – CALORIC SWEETENER USED IN DIABET

Abstract

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni contains a mixture of sweeteners in the leaves of which stevioside is occurring in the highest concentration.  It is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevioside derives from steviol. Structurally, steviol is closely related to gibberellins and has similar biosynthetic origins to those of gibberellins. Moreover, the biosynthesis of steviol occurs in the membrane of chloroplast and the content of stevioside depends on that of the chlorophyll in Stevia. Paclobutrazol therefore, has potential to accumulate the content of stevioside in leaves of Stevia by inhibiting the biosynthesis of gibberellins and increasing the content of chlorophyll. In this research, we study on propagation Stevia rebaudiana Berton and effect of Paclobutrazol on iaccumulating stevioside of in vitro material. The results show that this is the potential plant for in vitro culture, especially with the large-scale production. HPLC analysising determined that the MS medium supplemented with Paclobutrazol (20 mg/l) increase the content of stevioside in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni.