MORPHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOME HYBRIDS OF STEVIA (Stevia rebaudiana) UNDER EGYPTIAN CONDITIONS

doi:10.12816/ejpb.2019.256173

MORPHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOME HYBRIDS OF STEVIA (Stevia rebaudiana) UNDER EGYPTIAN CONDITIONS

Document Type : Original research

10.12816/ejpb.2019.256173

Abstract

The present study was carried out to evaluate some Stevia rebaudiana segregates to facilitate selection of superior genotypes for hybridization in breeding programs. Three varieties, namely Sugar-High-A3, Egy.1 and Shou-2 and their F₁ populations were evaluated for their morphological characteristics at Giza Research Station (latitude of 30.02^o N and longitude of 31.22^o E) in 2017 and 2018. Various quantitative morphological traits including plant height, number of branches/plant, number of leaves/plant, leaf fresh and dry weight/plant, leaf moisture%, stems fresh weight and leaf: stem ratio were recorded. Individuals were identified with leaf fresh weight ranging from 40 to 670 g, while the highest leaf dry weight (215 g) was recorded by strain No. 2 of Egy.1 variety. Shou-2 variety had the highest leaf dry weight (60 g/plant). Stevia Egy.1 variety produced the highest percentage of superior strains (65 %), compared to the other varieties. Correlation indicated that, leaf dray weight was positively and highly significantly correlated with leaf fresh weight and leaf number/plant, recording 0.97 and 0.81, respectively.

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