Table 2. Effects of melatonin on stevia growth in in vitro conditions.
Melatonin at concentrations of 0 (control), 5, 20, 100 and 500 µM were used at the germination stage and obtained seedlings were grown for four weeks on MS medium. The means (n = 10) ± SE followed by different letters, are significantly different based on ANOVA followed by Duncan’s stest at p < 0.05.
| MEL concentration (µM) | Fresh weight (g) |
Shoot fresh weight (g) |
Stem length (cm) |
Internode length (cm) |
Leaves/plantlets number |
Roots number |
Root length (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (control) | 0.33 ± 0.07 b | 0.18 ± 0.05 b | 3.64 ± 0.19 c | 0.67 ± 0.19 b | 9.8 ± 1.9 b | 8.8 ± 1.4 b | 3.66 ± 0.22 a |
| 5 | 0.16 ± 0.07 c | 0.12 ± 0.04 c | 4.41 ± 0.28 a | 0.83 ± 0.09 a | 9.6 ± 1.4 b | 6.7 ± 1.2 c | 3.44 ± 0.14 b |
| 20 | 0.47 ± 0.08 a | 0.30 ± 0.08 a | 3.87 ± 0.20 b | 0.68 ± 0.14 b | 11.6 ± 1.2 a | 8.3 ± 0.9 b | 3.39 ± 0.08 b |
| 100 | 0.21 ± 0.07 c | 0.12 ± 0.02 c | 2.58 ± 0.22 d | 0.46 ± 0.07 c | 9.2 ± 1.4 b | 6.0 ± 0.9 c | 3.22 ± 0.27 c |
| 500 | 0.15 ± 0.02 c | 0.10 ± 0.02 c | 2.21 ± 0.27 e | 0.34 ± 0.05 d | 9.6 ± 1.6 b | 13.2 ± 0.1 a | 3.03 ± 0.09 d |