CONTENIDO DE GLUCóSIDOS EN FUNCIóN DE DEFICIENCIAS NUTRICIONALES EN Stevia rebaudiana BERT.

worldwide, there are few reports of stevia's (stevia rebaudiana bert.) nutritional requirements, as well as the effects of deficiencies of mineral elements on the content of the main sweetener of the leaf. the study was carried in the greenhouse of agricultural sciences faculty, university of córdoba (monteria - colombia), in 2008. the objective was to determine the effect of nutritional deficiencies of n, p, k, ca, s, mg, fe, b, cu, and zn on the concentration of total glycosides of the stevia leaf, in particular of rebaudioside a (reba) in the morita 2 genotype. also, every 15 days, the content of n, p, k, ca and mg from the roots, stems and leaves in two genotypes, morita 1 (m1) and morita 2 (m2), until the time of flowering onset was estimated. the removal of these elements for commercial planting was also evaluated. the main results indicated that the concentration of total glycosides was not affected by nutrient deficiencies, although the concentration of reba was reduced, only due to deficiencies in p, s, k and cu. the differential distribution among genotypes of the major elements in the plant organs allowed to establish their extraction, expressed as kg/ha, respectively for m1 and m2 of 24.9 and 30.8 (n), 4.8 and 6.3 (p), 23.7 and 29.9 (k), 9.7 and 10.8 (ca) and 6.7 and 6.3 (mg).