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Cultivation of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni and Associated Challenges

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Sweeteners

Part of the book series: Reference Series in Phytochemistry ((RSP))

Abstract

The rising concern about the spread of obesity and diabetes, and a growing awareness about healthy foods in western societies have stimulated, in the last years, a strong interest toward stevia sweeteners as alternative of sucrose and artificial intensive sweeteners. The worldwide demand for purified steviol glycosides from stevia is steadily increasing, and it is expected that in the future the agricultural production capacity will be lower than the market demand. This provides a strong incentive to explore the possibilities to cultivate stevia and to produce leaves and extracts, beyond the traditional production zones. The cultivation of stevia might represent a formidable opportunity for the growers, in order to diversify the cropping systems and to meet the increasing market demand for high-quality and traceable raw material. In addition, several legislative initiatives, such as the steviol glycosides approval as food additive in several countries, represent favorable factors for the development of a stevia-based agro-industry. To foster the introduction of this novel species, a significant improvement of its cultivation should be achieved and a modern agronomical blueprint defined. It is, in fact, imperative to develop economically viable and environmentally sustainable crop production systems through the integration of site-specific agronomic techniques and efficient mechanization technologies for the production and processing of a higher quality product. Several agronomic aspects require still to be optimized (e.g., choice of the cultivar, propagation and transplanting, sustainable weed management, nutrition, irrigation, harvesting), in order to improve, not only the leaf yield, but also its quality in terms of steviol glycosides and bioactive compounds. Traceability and crop quality control along the production chain are the strongest points, in order to obtain a certification that will provide to the farmers preferential market access and to sell the raw material at a differential price.

The present chapter, therefore, aims to provide updated scientific information regarding the most important agronomic factors in order to foster stevia cultivation and attain maximum yield and quality.

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Abbreviations

2,4-D:

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

ADI:

Acceptable daily intake

AMF:

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

B:

Boron

BA:

6-Benzyladenine

BW:

Body weight

CCC:

Chlorocholine chloride

Chl:

Chlorophyll

Cu:

Cupper

DPPH:

2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl

ET0 :

Reference (or potential) evapotranspiration

ETc:

Crop evapotranspiration

FC:

Field capacity

Fe:

Iron

FYM:

Farmyard manure

GACP:

Good agricultural and collection practices

GAs:

Gibberellins

IBA:

Indole-3-butyric acid

IPM:

Integrated pest management

IWM:

Integrated weed management

K:

Potassium

Kc:

Crop coefficient

Kn:

Kinetin

LAI:

Leaf area index

LDs:

Long-day conditions

MEP:

Methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate

Mg:

Magnesium

Mn:

Manganese

MS:

Murashige and Skoog medium

N:

Nitrogen

NAA:

α-Naphthaleneacetic acid

P:

Phosphorus

PBZ:

Paclobutrazol

PGPRs:

Plant growth promoting rizhobacteria

PNUE:

Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency

PSB:

Phosphorous solubilizing bacteria

Reb A:

Rebaudioside A

S:

Sulfur

SDs:

Short-day conditions

SLW:

Specific leaf weight

Stev:

Stevioside

SVglys:

Steviol glycosides

TDZ:

Thidiazuron

UPOV:

Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants

Zn:

Zinc

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), University of Pisa, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Luciana G. Angelini, Andrea Martini & Silvia Tavarini

  2. University of Pisa, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Barbara Passera

Authors
  1. Luciana G. Angelini
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  2. Andrea Martini
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  3. Barbara Passera
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  4. Silvia Tavarini
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Luciana G. Angelini , Andrea Martini , Barbara Passera or Silvia Tavarini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Jean-Michel Mérillon

  2. Botany Department, M.L. Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India

    Kishan Gopal Ramawat

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Angelini, L.G., Martini, A., Passera, B., Tavarini, S. (2018). Cultivation of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni and Associated Challenges. In: Mérillon, JM., Ramawat, K. (eds) Sweeteners. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27027-2_8

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