Question

Enumerate the applications of the plant tissue culture technique.

Answer 1

Plant tissue culture is a method in which fragments of tissue from a plant are transferred to a medium in which they can continue to grow.

Application of plant tissue culture:

1. Micropropagation is used for the development of foliage and ornamental plants.

2. By using tissue culture methods, ornamental plants are produced in large numbers.

3. Virus free germplasm is produced through apical meristem culture.

4. Artificial synthetic seeds are produced through somatic embryogenesis.

5. Plant tissue culture is used for the production of secondary metabolites in large quantities.

6. Tissue culture helps in the induction of haploidy in anther culture.

7. Embryo culture technique is applied to overcome embryo abortion, seed dormancy and self-sterility in seeds.

8. Plant tissue culture methods are employed in plants for the introduction of a foreign gene into plant cells.

9. Protoplasmic fusion encourages genomes of incompatible crops to come together to form somatic hybrids.

10. Plant tissue culture is applied in the area of plant physiological and biochemical research to study the cell cycle, metabolism in cells, nutritional, morphogenetical and developmental studies in plants.