In a mango orchard, almost all the mango trees present would have been grown using stem cuttings. Why do you think this is so? You may choose more than one answer.
In a mango orchard, almost all the mango trees present would have been grown using stem cuttings. Why do you think this is so? You may choose more than one answer.
The correct options are
A Because stem cuttings provide identical plants and hence identical mangoes.
C Because stem cutting directly results in mature plants which can produce fruits quickly.
Remember that stem cutting is an asexual method of reproduction. Thus, all the offspring are essentially identical with the same characteristics as their parent. This means that new plants are clones of the parent plant and each clone produces the same kind of mangoes. If you like Badami or Alphonso mangoes, you would like to have a lot of them. Imagine buying some mangoes and each mango having a completely different taste from the other. You wouldn’t want a sour mango in your bunch. In other words you would want all your Badami mangoes tasting the same.
Thus, farmers prefer this method of propagation because they can get large yields of identical tasting mangoes.
Another advantage of using stem cuttings is that the stem cut plant is already mature. If a seed is used to grow a new tree, the tree would have to first mature (grow old and turn into an adult) to be able to produce fruit. For mangoes, this may take 10-15 years. Instead if you use a stem cutting from a mature tree, you can get mango fruits from the next fruiting season itself as the cutting is already mature.
A
Because stem cuttings provide identical plants and hence identical mangoes.
C
Because stem cutting directly results in mature plants which can produce fruits quickly.
Remember that stem cutting is an asexual method of reproduction. Thus, all the offspring are essentially identical with the same characteristics as their parent. This means that new plants are clones of the parent plant and each clone produces the same kind of mangoes. If you like Badami or Alphonso mangoes, you would like to have a lot of them. Imagine buying some mangoes and each mango having a completely different taste from the other. You wouldn’t want a sour mango in your bunch. In other words you would want all your Badami mangoes tasting the same.
Thus, farmers prefer this method of propagation because they can get large yields of identical tasting mangoes.
Another advantage of using stem cuttings is that the stem cut plant is already mature. If a seed is used to grow a new tree, the tree would have to first mature (grow old and turn into an adult) to be able to produce fruit. For mangoes, this may take 10-15 years. Instead if you use a stem cutting from a mature tree, you can get mango fruits from the next fruiting season itself as the cutting is already mature.
