Growth, development and reproduction features of stevia in West Siberia

Abstract

Stevia is a new crop in modern crop production; its cultivation of limited geographically, and the gross harvested leaf of the crop reaches only a few dozen tons. In the Siberian region, the conditions of extreme continental climate negatively affect the growth and development of stevia plants. The seeds have a low germination rate which makes reproduction difficult. The research goal was to study the growth, development and reproduction of stevia under the conditions of West Siberia. The experiments were established in 2023 and 2024 at the educational, scientific and production laboratory "Gardening" of the educational and experimental farm of the Omsk State Agricultural University. Three stevia varieties Ramonskaya slastena, Medovaya travka and Uslada were chosen for the research. When germinating stevia seeds, it was found that pre-sowing treatment increased seed germination from 0 to 16.7%. The optimal period for green cuttings is summer and spring, when the percentage of rooting in August, March, April and May is a maximum (100%). Under the conditions of West Siberia in open and protected ground, the growing season of stevia plants was 258-263 days. The studied varieties in open ground of West Siberia formed fairly branched and well-leafed shrubs usable for technical purposes. Leaf number varies from 340 to 890 leaves, and plant height is from 63 to 91 cm.