Question

(a) Why are the plants raised through micropropagation termed as somaclones?
(b) Mention two advantages of this technique.

Answer 1

(a) The method of growing or producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called micropropagation.
The plants produced from tissue culture are genetically identical to the original plant from which they are grown, so they are called somaclones.
(b) Advantages of tissue culture are:
(i) Number of plants can be produced in a short time.
(ii) Disease-free plants can be developed from diseased plants.
(iii) Seedless plants can be multiplied.