Micropropagation

Cornell University botanist Frederick Campion Steward discovered and pioneered micropropagation and plant tissue culture in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Clean stock materials that are free of viruses and fungi are important in the production of the healthiest plants.

Usually, the medium is thickened with a gelling agent, such as agar, to create a gel which supports the explant during growth.

Through repeated cycles of this process, a single explant sample may be increased from one to hundreds and thousands of plants.

Until this stage, the plantlets have been grown in "ideal" conditions, designed to encourage rapid growth.

Experimental result also suggest that this technique can be successfully utilized for rapid multiplication of various plant species, e.g. Coconut,[4] strawberry,[5] sugarcane.

When a living plant tissue is placed in an artificial growing medium with other conditions favorable, callus is formed.

The protoplast is first cultured in liquid medium at 25 to 28 C with a light intensity of 100 to 500 lux or in dark and after undergoing substantial cell division, they are transferred into solid medium congenial or morphogenesis in many horticultural crops respond well to protoplast culture.

Mechanisation of the process could reduce labour costs, but has proven difficult to achieve, despite active attempts to develop technological solutions.

Micropropagation facilitates the growth, storage, and maintenance of a large number of plants in small spaces, which makes it a cost-effective process.

Micropropagation is widely used in ornamental plants to efficiently produce large quantities of uniform, disease-free specimens, significantly enhancing commercial horticulture operations.

[8] Among the species broadly propagated in vitro, one can mention chrysanthemum,[9] damask rose,[10] Saintpaulia ionantha,[11] Zamioculcas zamiifolia[12] and bleeding heart.