Influence of crop geometry on yield, yield attributes and glycoside yield of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

Field experiments were conducted in a loamy sand soil during 2006 and 2007 at Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana to evaluate the performance of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni under varying planting geometry. The studies revealed that in case of row to row spacing, highest number of leaves per plant (533.0, 447.6), leaf area (8113.1, 6322.6 cm2/plant), leaf area index (5.1, 8.7) and dry matter accumulation per plant (86.0, 76.9 g/plant) during 2006 and 2007, respectively were found under wider row spacing of 75 cm. Which was significantly higher than narrower row spacing of 60 cm and 45 cm. Whereas, the fresh biomass yield (9861 and 11801 kg/ha), dry biomass (2080 and 2550 kg/ha), leaf yield (6129 and 4414 kg/ha) and stem yields (7611 and 5447 kg/ha) during 2006 and 2007, respectively and glycoside yield were registered higher under closer row spacing of 45 cm than the wider row spacing of 60 cm and 75 cm. In plant to plant spacings, the maximum number of leaves (5681.3 cm2/plant) was recorded under plant spacing of 45 cm which was statistically at par with plants spaced at 37.5 cm and 30.0 cm but significantly higher than 22.5 cm and 15.0 cm plant spacing, leaf area and dry matter accumulation per plant were highest with than other closer plant spacings.Whereas, the fresh and dry biomass, leaf and stem yields and glycoside yield were recorded highest under closer plant spacing of 15 cm which was statistically at par with 22.5 cm plant spacing