Question

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

Answer 1

Hint: Plants are produced mainly by two types, that is asexual reproduction, which is produced by the vegetative parts of the plants, and another type is by sexual modes, such as pollination, and by forming seeds, etc. Whereas micropropagation is the artificial method of reproducing plants through vegetative parts.

Complete answer:
- Micropropagation is the invivo method of propagation of vegetative parts of the plants to produce a large number of progeny.
- The plants that are produced here look similar, so they are called clones and the process is cloning, as they are propagated by somatic tissues are called some clones.
- This technique of micropropagation, where there are 5 artificial processes of producing plantlets which involves 5 different methods.
- They include Meristem culture, callus culture, suspension culture, embryo culture, and protoplast culture.
- There are 5 stages in this method of micropropagation, wherein the initial stage one should select the stock plants where they grow under controlled conditions, before using them for culture initiation.
- Whereas in stage 1 of micropropagation, explanations are established in a suitable culture medium, which includes the isolation of eggplant, surface sterilization, and washing.
- When coming to stage 2 which involves the rapid multiplication of shoots, where there is rapid somatic embryo formation takes place in a defined culture medium.
- Where in stage 3 there will be rooting of shoots and in the final stage, the transfer of plantlets to the greenhouse environment takes place.

Additional information:
- This Micropropagation is an alternate method to enhance the multiplication of vegetative propagation.
- In these methods, we can obtain large quantities of plants from single plant tissue, in a very short period.
- The small-sized propagules can be stored and they can be transported very easily.
- Germplasm stocks can be maintained for several years using this technique.
- It helps in the production and maintenance of pathogen-free plant varieties.
- At the same time, this method is cost-effective and it requires less space and fewer human resources.

Note: To say simply, it is the propagation of any plantlet in tissue culture, and that cultured one is used for planting, and all these processes occur in stepwise manner from placing of plantlet in culture media to transfer of the culture plantlet to optimum areas for normal growth and development.