Stevia
rebaudiana Bertoni is an annual shrub and is well known
as a non-caloric sweetener. More than 150 species of Stevia are known but most pivotal importance of this plant is its
sweetness. It is native to Paraguay. Stevioside and
rebaudioside are the core chemical compounds responsible for sweetness in
stevia. These compounds are 100-300 times sweeter than sucrose so comparatively
required in much lesser quantity. Japan is
the first country in Asia to market stevioside as sweetener in food and medical
industries. Now cultivation of stevia has expanded to different countries of
Asia including India, China, Malaysia, Singapur, South Korea, Taiwan, and
Thailand. This
plant has many therapeutic uses such as natural sweetener for sugar
patients, cure for fat persons, for high blood pressure people, sugar desire, tobacco
and drink addiction, low blood sugar patients, heart burn, fungal infections, and
heart treatment and anti-tumor etc.
Stevia
leaves may be used directly as sweetener and can also be extracted in pure form
and then used as sweetener. The dried leaves or stevioside in pure form can also
be used in many food entities like beverages, ice cream, jam and jellies,
bakery products, candy, sweets, drinks and chocolates etc. Stevia is an herbaceous
plant and have low seed viability so germination is low. Cultivation of Stevia
through seed is not efficient. Flowers are self-incompatible as a result fertilization
is poor. Plants retrieved from seeds are not homogeneous, so variation occurs
in traits like level of sweetness etc. Additionally, presence of flavenoids
and phenolic compounds in this plant make it antioxidant and antimicrobial. Scientists prepared a product through Stevia rebaudiana named "Pure Stevia" which is beneficial for diabetic people.
Vegetative propagation of stevia is
also not acceptable owing to possibility of pathogen attack and poor growth of
plant. So, under these circumstances
in vitro micro-propagation of stevia
using tissue culture techniques is effective and reliable approach for mass
multiplication of this sweet herb. In
vitro micro-propagation of Stevia results in homogeneous plants which have
same characteristics. To conserve such economical shrub tissue culture is the
safe procedure for Stevia production.
Keeping in view the importance of in vitro techniques, for the improvement
of this sweet herb, followings are the objectives of these studies
Ø
Establishment
of in vitro micropropagation in
stevia for its mass multiplication
Ø
In vitro manipulation of stevia to
establish regeneration in this sweet herb
Regards:
Bilal Tufail
+92 3016636233
agrigoods.blogspot.com
bilaltufail00@gmail.com
Mphil Biotechnology
