## 3 Results
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Spacing 1**} & **N-NO3** & **P** & **K** & **Ca** & **Mg** \\ \cline{3-6} \multicolumn{2}{c}{} & **(mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) d.m.)** & & **(mg\(\cdot\)100 g\({}^{-1}\) d.m.)** & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{July} & 50 cm \(\times\) 30 cm & 1360.99 \(\pm\) 143.11 a & 134.58 \(\pm\) 14.48 a & 2648.61 \(\pm\) 84.12 a & 836.11 \(\pm\) 21.49 a & 166.11 \(\pm\) 5.92 a \\  & 45 cm \(\times\) 25 cm & 1343.82 \(\pm\) 125.52 a & 126.39 \(\pm\) 17.45 a & 2554.17 \(\pm\) 59.04 a & 841.67 \(\pm\) 19.83 a & 168.89 \(\pm\) 10.14 a \\  & 30 cm \(\times\) 30 cm & 1003.1 \(\pm\) 97.43 b & 117.5 \(\pm\) 19.83 a & 2465.28 \(\pm\) 49.51 b & 791.67 \(\pm\) 12.90 b & 143.89 \(\pm\) 6.43 b \\ \cline{2-6}  & 50 cm \(\times\) 30 cm & 1856.18 \(\pm\) 194.4 a & 234.17 \(\pm\) 11.80 a & 2828.93 \(\pm\) 68.39 a & 861.94 \(\pm\) 95.23 a & 176.39 \(\pm\) 21.9 a \\ \cline{2-6}  & 45 cm \(\times\) 25 cm & 1219.28 \(\pm\) 283.67 b & 185.14 \(\pm\) 9.15 b & 2748.43 \(\pm\) 52.85 b & 888.18 \(\pm\) 61.09 a & 172.22 \(\pm\) 1.46 b \\ \cline{2-6}  & 30 cm \(\times\) 30 cm & 1073.57 \(\pm\) 150.81 b & 155.69 \(\pm\) 6.41 c & 2701.39 \(\pm\) 47.92 b & 835.31 \(\pm\) 54.97 a & 156.94 \(\pm\) 1.01 c \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Values are expressed as the mean (\(n=9\)) \(\pm\) standard deviation. Mean values with different letters (a, b, c) within the same column for different time of analysis (July or September) are significantly different (\(\alpha=0.05\)) according to [PERSON]’s test.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Concentration of nitrates and elements in the leaves of stevia plants grown in different spacings. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Spacing 1** & **50 cm \(\times\) 30 cm** & **45 cm \(\times\) 25 cm** & **30 cm \(\times\) 30 cm** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{July} & Plant height [cm] & 28.65 \(\pm\) 2.94 a & 28.69 \(\pm\) 3.15 a & 27.65 \(\pm\) 2.56 a \\  & Lateral width [cm] & 20.50 \(\pm\) 2.18 a & 21.00 \(\pm\) 3.27 a & 20.00 \(\pm\) 2.41 a \\  & Number of shoots of the first order & 7.89 \(\pm\) 1.52 a & 7.56 \(\pm\) 2.16 a & 6.74 \(\pm\) 1.58 a \\  & Number of leaves on the lowest & 12.33 \(\pm\) 2.94 a & 12.74 \(\pm\) 3.08 a & 11.30 \(\pm\) 1.98 a \\ \cline{2-6}  & Plant height [cm] & 57.61 \(\pm\) 4.52 a & 59.35 \(\pm\) 4.88 a & 59.15 \(\pm\) 5.12 a \\  & Lateral width [cm] & 29.05 \(\pm\) 1.04 a & 27.00 \(\pm\) 0.95 b & 26.05 \(\pm\) 1.64 b \\  & Number of shoots of the first order & 16.8 \(\pm\) 1.96 a & 12.23 \(\pm\) 1.52 b & 10.23 \(\pm\) 1.07 b \\  & Number of leaves on the lowest & 26.44 \(\pm\) 3.66 a & 28.56 \(\pm\) 3.42 a & 25.41 \(\pm\) 2.98 a \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Values are expressed as the mean (\(n=27\)) \(\pm\) standard deviation. Mean values with different letters (a, b) within the same column for different time of analysis (July or September) are significantly different (\(\alpha=0.05\)) according to [PERSON]’s test.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Biometric measurements of stevia plants grown in different spacings. The various kinds of spacings between stevia plants also affected the dry mass content, concentration of reducing sugars, concentration of vitamin C, and phenolic compounds in the leaves of stevia plants, as shown in Table 5.  
The dry mass content was similar for all analysed samples in June (24.48-25.16%), but in September, it was highest in stevia plants grown in the spacing of 30 cm \(\times\) 30 cm (28.67%). Despite this, stevia plants grown in the spacing of 30 cm \(\times\) 30 cm exhibited the lowest concentration of reducing sugars (0.72% in July and 1.64%. in September), while those grown in the spacing of 50 cm \(\times\) 30 cm were characterised with the highest concentration of sugars (1.42% in July and 2.48% in September). In July, the concentration of vitamin C was highest in stevia plants grown in the spacing of 45 cm \(\times\) 25 cm (144.39 mg\(\cdot\)100 g\({}^{-1}\) f.m.