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Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni), commonly known as a natural sweetener plant or sweet herb grabs the economic and scientific interests owing to its sweetness and therapeutic properties present in its leaves mainly due to the presence of steviol glycosides (SGs), with stevioside being the most abundant, followed by rebaudioside. Stevioside, the most abundant active component, is greatly preferred by diabetic patients since it is a non-calorie sweetener and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a dietary supplement. This shows the benefits of stevia over other artificial sweeteners as an ingredient for the food business, subsequently, making stevia an increasingly appropriate substitute for saccharine in various drinks, beverages, and bakery products. Stevia also offers therapeutic benefits having anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertensive, and immunomodulatory effects. These beneficial effects largely focused on the importance of stevia. Sexually developed plants were not efficient because of low fertility and reduced viability. However, quality planting material can be produced through biotechnological approaches like micropropagation. To date, a great deal of studies has been completed on the tissue culture intervened approaches for the mass propagation of stevia. In this chapter, the above-mentioned approaches and their significance are emphasized for the large-scale production of identical plant materials and for the improvement of important calorie-free SGs. |
