Large scale production of in vitro plantlets of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) using low-cost gelling agents as alternative to commonly used agar

Nisar Ahmad

Center for Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Swat, Swat 19200, Pakistan

Sidra Mukhtar

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Naveed Ahmad

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Muhammad Sajid

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Irfan Ullah

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Nadia Samad

Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Muhammad Numan

Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Zafar Iqbal

Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Hina Fazal

Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Laboratories Complex, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan

Mohammad Ali

Center for Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Swat, Swat 19200, Pakistan

Hassan Sher

Center for Plant Sciences and Biodiversity, University of Swat, Swat 19200 Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14456/apst.2025.35

Keywords: Stevia rebaudiana Morphogenesis Gelling agents Isubgol Sago Semolina Corn starch BAP

Abstract

Plant cell culture is an advance technology for large scale production of medicinal plants of commercial importance but high cost of the media is one of the major issues for economical growers. One of the most expensive agent of culture media is agar and therefore, the main objective of this study was to select best agar alternative among isubgol, semolina, laundry starch, sago, and corn starch. These alternatives were tested during the morphogenesis of Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.). S. rebaudiana (Bert.) is one the famous sweet herb that produce sweet diterpenes that could be used as sugar alternative for diabetic patients due to its non-toxic nature. Here, the synergistic combinations of isubgol and Agar+isubgol augmented Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 2.0 mg/L benzyl aminopurine (BAP) and 0.5 mg/L gibberellic acid (GA3) was found to be effective for shoot induction (100%) and shoot morphogenesis than control (MS media without plant growth regulators). The MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) along with corn starch (90 g/L) is the best combination for rapid root initiation, however, corn starch/sago alone or the synergistic combination of with agar or sago significantly improved root organogenesis (100%) in medicinally important Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.). However, sago encourage mean shoot and root length and reduced 90% cost than agar. Semolina was the cheapest agar substitute by reducing the cost up to 97.75% and could be scale up for higher production of plantlets of commercial importance.

How to Cite

Ahmad, N., Mukhtar, S., Ahmad, N., Sajid, M., Ullah, I., Samad, N., Numan, M., Iqbal, Z., Fazal, H., Ali, M., & Sher, H. (2025). Large scale production of in vitro plantlets of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) using low-cost gelling agents as alternative to commonly used agar . Asia-Pacific Journal of Science and Technology, 30(03), APST–30. https://doi.org/10.14456/apst.2025.35

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