Plant Propagation
I. Sexual Propagation
1. Seed propagation
- most common method by which plants reproduce in nature
- most efficient and widely-used method for cultivated crops, e.g. rice,
coconut, papaya, tomato, orchid
- seeds arise from the fusion of male and female gametes to form a single
cell (zygote) within the ovule of a flower
2. Embryo culture – done by aseptically removing the embryo from the seed
and placing it in a sterilized culture medium to germinate
II. Asexual Propagation – involves reproduction from vegetative parts of plants
and is possible because the vegetative organs of many plants have the
capacity for regeneration
1. Propagation by apomictic embryos
Apomixis – production of embryo without meiosis and fertilization
- embryos arise from vegetative cells within the ovule
2. Separation and Division
Separation – involves separating naturally detachable organs from the
mother plant
Division – procedure wherein specialized vegetative structures are cut
into sections
modified organs which may be separated and/or
divided:
Bulb – a specialized underground organ consisting of a short, fleshy,
usually vertical stem axis (basal plate) bearing at its apex a growing
point or a flower primordium enclosed by thick, fleshy scales
- e.g. tulips, lilies
Bulbil – aerial plantlet formed on the axil of the leaves or flower stalk
- e.g. agave
Corm – a swollen base of a stem axis enclosed by the dry-scale leaves
- e.g. banana, gladiolus, gabi
Cormel – miniature corm which develop between old and new the corms
Crown – part of a plant at the surface of the ground from which new
shoots are produced
- e.g. aster, Shasta daisy
Offset (syn. offshoot) – a characteristic type of lateral shoot or branch
which develops from the base of the main stem in certain plants (a
shortened, thickened stem of rosette-like appearance)
- e.g. Pistia sp.
Pseudobulb – a specialized storage structure consisting of an enlarged,
fleshy section of the stem made up of one to several nodes
-e.g. Cattleya sp.
Rhizome – a specialized structure in which the main axis of the plant
grows horizontally at or just below the ground surface
- e.g. banana, bamboo, sugarcane
Runner – a specialized stem which develops from the axil of the leaf at
the crown of a plant, grows horizontally along the ground, and
forms a new plant at one of the nodes
- e.g. strawberry, black pepper
Slip – leafy shoot originating from axillary buds borne at the base of a
plant or peduncle of the fruit
- e.g. pineapple, cabbage
Stolon – special modified stem, produced by some plants, that grow
horizontal to the ground
- e.g. Bermuda grass
Sucker – adventitious shoot that arise from underground stems below
the ground
- e.g. banana, pineapple
Tuber – a modified stem structure which develops below ground as a
consequence of the swelling of the subapical portion of the stolon
and subsequent accumulation if reserve materials
- e.g. potato
Tuberous root – thickened root which contain large amount of stored
foods
- e.g. cassava, sweet potato
4. Cutting – a portion of a stem, root, or leaf is cut from the parent plant, after
which this plant part is placed under certain favorable environmental
conditions and induced to form roots and shoots, thus producing a new
independent plant
- types:
Root cutting – e.g. breadfruit, apple
Stem cutting – types: hardwood, semi-hardwood, softwood, herbaceous
cuttings
- e.g. cassava, malunggay, coffee, rose
Leaf cutting – e.g. snakeplant, begonia, African violet
Leaf-bud cutting – e.g. black pepper, vanilla
5. Layering
– a propagation method by which adventitious roots are induced to form
on a stem while it is still attached to the parent plant
- types:
simple layering
air layering or marcotting
compound or serpentine layering
mound or stool layering
trench layering
6. Grafting
- connecting parts of plants together in such a manner that they will unite
and continue their growth as one plant
- Scion - short piece of detached shoot with one to several dormant
buds and which is to become the upper portion of graft
combination
- Rootstock – lower portion of graft which develops into the root system
of the grafted plant
- Interstock – a piece of stem inserted between scion and rootstock (to
avoid any incompatibility between scion and rootstock and/or
to take advantage of its growth controlling properties)
- types of grafting:
whip or tongue grafting
splice grafting
side grafting
cleft grafting
wedge grafting
bark grafting
saddle grafting
7. Budding
- an asexual propagation, that like grafting, which involves joining 2 plant
parts such that the size of the scion is reduced to only one bud and a
small section of bark, with or without wood
- types:
shield budding (T budding)
modified forkert budding
inverted T budding
chip budding
patch budding
8. Inarching (Approach Grafting)
- an asexual propagation technique in which plants are made to unite
while growing on their roots
9. Tissue culture techniques other than embryo culture
– can be started from a variety of plant parts which have cells capable of
dividing
- e.g. shoot-tip culture, meristem culture, endosperm culture
bmsalazar
27September2006
