A protocol was developed to produce large amount of callus in short a period of time from leaf explants of Stevia rebaudiana Bert. The highest amount of white callus was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/l 2, 4-D and 0.5 mg/l BAP after 3 weeks of inoculating leaf segments. On the other hand, 0.5 mg/l BAP and 1.0 mg/l Kn exhibits poor performance towards callus formation while after using 1.0 mg/l Kn alone did not develop any callus. In this experiment, highest amount of green callus was obtained when MS medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/l NAA and 10% coconut water was used. An improved analytical method HPLC was applied to analyze stevioside extracted from the leaf and callus of Stevia rebaudiana. The stevioside in each sample were analyzed by comparing their retention times with those of the standards. The retention time (RT) of stevioside for leaves were found 14.96 and for callus 13.81 mins. The percentage of stevioside content from leaves and callus was 12.19% and 12.62% respectively Key words: Stevioside; Callus; Natural sweeteners; Growth regulators; Stevia rebaudiana; HPLC Available online at www.banglajol.info Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 49(4), [199][200][201][202][203][204] 2014 *Corresponding author: E-mail: trishansu@gmail.com (Mizukami et al., 1982, Nishiyama et al. Ahmed and Dobberstein developed an HPLC method for the determination of eight diterpene glycosides. Satisfactory resolution was achieved on two protein columns in series, after the plant material was extracted with chloroform prior to methanol extraction (Mizukami et al., 1982). Therefore, considering its scope and future need of planting material, the present study was undertaken to find out suitable concentration and combination of cytokinin (BAP) and auxins (NAA, 2, 4-D, Kn) for callus induction and development from leaf explants, to study the production of steviol glycosides in callus culture and to compare the amount of stevioside between induced callus and leaf tissue using HPLC.
Materials and methodsThe experiment was conducted at Tissue Culture Section, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka Bangladesh. The experiment was performed in two phases. In the first phase, leaf segments of Stevia rebaudiana, as explants were cultured for callus induction on MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with auxins (2,4-D, NAA) and cytokinin (BAP, Kn) at different concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 mg/l ) and with 10% coconut water respectively. Regular visual observation was done up to five weeks to record the day of callus initiation and maturation. Then fresh weight of best calluses and fresh leaves were recorded.In the second phase of this study stevioside content was determined in the callus and leaf from which the callus was developed by HPLC method. The HPLC system was a SHIMADJU SPD-M20A chromatograph equipped with a binary pump and UV detection was at 219 am. The analytical column was RP-C18 (250 mm X 4.6 nm). Separation was performed with a water and methano...