African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (13), pp. 1238-1240, 3 July 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

In vitro propagation of Stevia rebaudiana Bert in Bangladesh

Mohammed Salim Uddin¹, Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury¹, M. Muoztaba Mahfuzul Haque Khan¹, Mohammad Belal Uddin¹, Romel Ahmed¹, Md. Azizul Baten²*

¹Department of Forestry, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh.

²Department of Statistics, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh.

*Corresponding authors E-mail:batenatsust.edu, baten_mathatyahoo.com

Accepted 28 March, 2006

An experiment was conducted on in vitro culture of Stevia rebaudiana Bert, an important non-caloric sweetening herb to explore its potential for micro-propagation. Leaf, nodal and inter-nodal segments of the selected herb as explant were cultured on MS medium containing 2,4-D at 2, 3, 4 and 5 mg/L for callus induction. Inter-nodal segments initiated callus earlier than node and leaf. The highest amount of callus was found in MS medium with 3.0 mg/L 2,4-D and MS medium with 5.0 mg/L 2,4-D gave the poorest callus.

Key words: In vitro propagation, 2,4-D, Stevia rebaudiana.