< p>The soil water limitation is a relevant abiotic stress that affects the plants life. In this respect, adoption an efficient strategy may improve the plant growth during this stress. The present study was conducted in order to find the likely useful effect of the humic acid (HA) on Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) in a pot trial, especially under drought stress condition. Therefore, five levels of humic acid (0, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 mg.kg-1 of soil) were applied in the soil containing Stevia seedling under normal (well-watered) and drought stress condition (resulted from 10-days irrigation intervals), based on a factorial experiment with three replications. Drought stress significantly reduced the Stevia leaf production and steviol glycosides (SVglys) content and compositions. Stevioside (Stev) and Rebaudioside A (Reb A) contents were significantly decreased by drought stress and all concentrations of HA. On the other hand, HA (in concentration more than 1.5 mg.kg-1 of soil) strongly increased the leaf production in Stevia and resulted in a significant increase of the SVglys yield (44% in comparison with no HA). Results clearly demonstrated that although HA showed an inhibitory effect for SVglys content in Stevia leaf, it can increase the SVglys yield through a remarkable increase in leaf growth in Stevia, especially under drought stress condition. پرونده مقاله

Stevia (stevia rebaudiana) leaves contain valuable sweet compounds, called steviol glycosides (SVglys), which the quantity and quality of these sweet compounds may be changed during the leaf drying process. The present study was conducted to survey the SVglys changes during different leaf drying methods applied for stevia leaves. The stevia leaves were similarly harvested before flowering and dried by different methods including oven (45 and 75 ˚C), shade, infrared, microwave, sun, and freeze-dry, and thereafter the SVglys were assessed. The results showed that the SVglys content and its compositions such as stevioside (Stev) and rebaudioside A (Reb A) were significantly affected by leaf drying methods. The highest content of SVglys and Stev was stabilized using infrared, microwave, sun, and freeze-dry methods while the other methods showed a lower content of SVglys and Reb A. The significant high content of Reb A was recorded by freeze-drying and sun methods. Our results conclusively showed that freeze-dry and sun drying methods were seen more effective than other drying methods in SVglys retention in leaves and recorded the lowest SVglys losses during the drying process. پرونده مقاله