Question

A major application of embryo culture is in
A. Production of alkaloids
B. Overcoming hybridization barriers
C. Clonal propagation
D. Induction of lethal mutations

Answer 1

Hint: Embryo culture is a component of in vitro fertilization that involves growing resultant embryos in an artificial growth medium. The different stages of embryogenesis at which embryo transfer occurs are cleavage stage or blastocyst stage.

Complete answer:
-Alkaloids are the biochemical produced by organisms like bacteria, fungi, animals and plants. These are purified using techniques like solvent extraction, acid-base extraction and silica gel chromatography.
-Clonal propagation is the technique of asexual reproduction which produces genetically identical copies of a parent plant. This method has been used for propagation of several plants like grape, fig, chrysanthemum, potato, apple, etc.
-The process of limited inbreeding between two populations is called hybridization barrier. This reduces the invariability between the populations.
Such plants can be hybridized artificially through various tissue culture techniques and the resultant embryos can be rescued using embryo rescue techniques. The embryos of the plant are multicellular structures that can help in overcoming hybridization barriers as it allows the breeding of incompatible interspecific and intergeneric species.
-Embryo culture is an in-vitro fertilization technique that helps in protecting the embryos that might not survive to become viable plants. Some plants reproduce through seeds with great difficulty, for example, Macapuno nuts. Interspecific hybridization often fails because the embryo dies or fails to reach maturity. These embryos are taken out of the fertilized ovule and cultured over nutrient medium under controlled conditions.
-The creation of mutation at will and their utilization for production of improved crop varieties is called mutation breeding. The useful mutants of pulses, millets, vegetables and fruit plants, wheat plants etc. have been produced using this method.
So, the correct answer is “Option B”.

Note:
The judicious combination of selection, introduction and hybridization procedures help in the crop improvement process. Plant breeders are the scientists that work for the crop improvement of plants.