Effect of Shade Level on Two Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana B.) Planting Materials

Ellis Nihayati, Saviera Nurtalitha, Ariesta Setiawan, Mochammad Roviq and Aldila Rahayu

Background and Objective: Stevia is a sweetener from plants that can be propagated through cuttings and micro-propagation. Shade level is one of the limiting factors that have a relationship with the growth microenvironment such as immediately receiving high light intensity (4000-12000 lux) with temperatures that can reach 35°C, resulting in an increase in evapotranspiration which causes the plants to wilt, resulting in plant vigor won’t be good and yield of stevia cuttings and plantlet planting material. The target of this research was to find out and study the response of two stevia (Stevia rebaudiana B.) planting materials at shade levels on plant vigor and stevioside content. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted from June to November, 2022, using a split-plot design with 4 replications. The first factor is planting material (B), namely cuttings (B1) and plantlets (B2). The second factor is shading (N) which is 25% (N1), 50% (N2) and 75% (N3). The analysis of variance (F-test) on test level 5% was used to determine the effect of treatment and if a significant effect was obtained, the analysis was continued with the least significance difference (LSD) at level 5%. Results: The research results obtained were optimum growth (length gain, number of new leaves, chlorophyll content and stomata density) found in cuttings planting material with 50% shade treatment. While the optimal quality of stevia planting materials (stevioside) is found in plantlets with 25% shade treatment. Conclusion: Found in this study, 50% shade level using cuttings planting materials, gave better growth and 25% shade level gave better stevioside using plantlet planting materials.

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