Farmers and gardeners often make use of a plant’s natural ability to reproduce asexually to grow crops faster.
The artificial control of asexual reproduction in plants is called vegetative propagation.
Over thousands of years, humans have developed a number of ways to control asexual reproduction in plants, including the following examples:
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Taking cuttings is the easiest way to clone a plant. Cuttings can be taken from the stem, root or leaf. If the cutting is placed in suitable conditions, a new plant will grow that is identical to the parent plant.
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Grafting involves joining a bud or stem of a valuable plant to a plant that already has a well-developed root system. Grafting is used to grow new fruit trees that produce high-quality fruit.
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Micropropagation (also known as tissue culture) is the newest method of vegetative propagation. A small sample of tissue is taken from the root, stem, leaf or bud of the parent plant and cultured in a laboratory. Large numbers of disease-free plants are produced in a short period of time.
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A plant cutting producing new roots
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Fig. 7.3.8 Fruit tree grafting
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Fig. 7.3.9 Plant tissue being separated for micropropagation 119
