Plant propagation in general refers to the process of reproduction or multiplication of plants, this includes reproduction by seed and spores as well as asexual methods. However frequently the term plant propagation is used for plant propagation carried out artificially in agriculture, scientific research and gardening. This involves purposeful and directed division of plant cells, tissues or organs. Our further discussion pertains to this second meaning of plant propagation.
Plant propagation can be done by various methods such as:
- Grafting
- Budding
- Layering
- Division of plants
- Division of specialize plant structures such as tubers, rhizomes, or bulbs.
Advantages of plant propagation include:
- Retention of almost all genetic characteristic of original plant.
- It is faster than growing plants from seeds. It eliminates the juvenile period of plant growth when they don't bear fruits.
- It is possible to have plants that survive in poor soil. yet are able to give better fruits and other products by having top soil of different kind.
Disadvantages of plant propagation include over growing plants from seed include:
- It is more complicated.
- It involves more labour.
- It cannot combine genetic characteristics of more than one type of plants.
No comments:
Post a Comment