Studies on Effects of Pruning on Vegetative Traits in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Compositae)

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, a natural sweetener plant with zero calorie content, becomes an inevitable alternative to sugar especially with the over 346 million diabetic population across the world. Stevia belongs to a genus of about 150 species of herbs and shrubs, a member of the family Compositae and native to Paraguay. Currently over 3 million Malaysian populations are diabetic and the dare need for this alternative sweetener substitute cannot be over emphasized. The plant being photoperiod sensitive has low vegetative yield under Malaysian environmental condition and the need therefore arises to improve this quality. Studies were carried out on effects of pruning on vegetative yield traits in Stevia in order to multiply leaves for higher quantity of sweetener extraction. Studied morphological characters include- (i) plant height, (ii) number of branches and (iii) number of leaves. Data were subjected to pair sample t test at probability level p<0.05, analysis revealed that there were significant differences with plant height at <0.032, number of branches at <0.012 and number of leaves at <0.001. Pruning promoted high vegetative yield in Stevia.