Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 320

Clonal propagation has several significant applications in plant breeding.

 Quick production of quality breeding and planting stockIn tree breeding, somatic propagation of trees is advantageous over the use of seeds to raise stock. It is fast and economical. Breeding time is shortened by using micropropagation.

 Early flower inductionClonally propagated plants are known to flower earlier than seed‐produced plants. This helps to speed up the reproductive cycle of the species and hence accelerate the breeding and testing time in a breeding program.

 Germplasm maintenanceGenotypes in clonal banks are maintained by clonal propagation. Clonal testing can be conducted to evaluate the accessions and their interaction with environment in a greenhouse setting.

 Maintenance of genetic uniformityCross‐pollinated species are naturally highly heterozygous, resulting in the progenies from such genotypes not only being true to type, but also missing some of the parental qualities. Clonal propagation is used to maintain the genetic characteristics of species.

 Production of disease‐free plantsVegetative propagation techniques such as grafting the in vitro culture of specific tissues can produce healthy clones from disease‐susceptible species.

 Propagating problematic speciesSome species produce few or no viable seeds, or may have seed dormancy issues, while others have seeds with poor germination capacity. Sometimes, germination is very slow, causing such species to take a long time to produce trees of marketable size. The use of clonal propagation can usually be a more rapid and economical technique than seeds in multiplying such species.

 Multiplication of sexually derived sterile hybridsInterspecific hybridization in plants commonly results in products that are sterile. Clonal propagation may be used to multiply such hybrids.

 Maintenance of genetic gainAfter a breeder makes a cross, the next step is to conduct repeated cycles of clonal reproduction to identify and maintain superior plants. Clonal propagation helps capture and maintain maximum genetic gains.