Sexual and Asexual Plant Propagation

Sexual and Asexual Plant Propagation

Sexual and Asexual Plant Propagation: Many horticulture plants, unlike agronomic plants, are difficult to propagate by seed. Horticultural plants have a life cycle that ranges from annual to perennial, and seed production is not cost-effective. Vegetative propagation is more effective in these situations. It is accomplished by propagating various plant components. Plant propagation is the process of growing new plants from seed, cuttings, bulbs, roots, and other plant elements. Plant dispersion, whether artificial or natural, is also part of plant propagation.

Plant propagation may be divided into two types: sexual propagation and asexual propagation.

Sexual Propagation:

Sexual propagation is the process of propagating plants utilising seed as a propagation resource. It has the following benefits over the asexual technique. Among the different kinds of plant propagation, it is the simplest, easiest, and most cost-effective method. Some plants, trees, vegetables, and fruits, such as papaya, marigold, and tomato, and cucurbitaceous, can only be propagated by sexual reproduction. This method of propagation produces stronger, disease-resistant crop species with a longer life span. They are resilient and have a deep root structure, so they grow quickly. In this method of propagation, viral transmission can be avoided.

Sexual propagation is responsible for the generation of a huge variety of crops, all of which are diverse in nature. It is the only propagation method that produces children with genetic variety and a wide range of characteristics from their parents. This genetic variety is what drives continual evolution, resulting in better and better offspring.

We can easily store the seed and move it from one location to another. When vegetative propagation fails or is too costly, such as in the Papaya, Coconut, and Arecanut, seed propagation is required. Polyembryony is a phenomena in which a single seed generates many seedlings that are true to type, nucellar embryonic seedlings that might be employed as rootstock for consistent performance, e.g. There are several types of polyembryonic rootstocks used in mango, including Bappakai, olour, vallaikolumban, Chandrashekaran, Kurukkan, Mulgaon, Bellary, and Goa. They are also used in Jamun and citrus fruit crops. Hybrids can be created through sexual reproduction. Rootstock is grown from seed. Rangpur lime, Jambheri lime, and so on. When a large number of seedlings are required, seed propagation is a simple method.

Disadvantage of Sexual Propagation

Sexually propagated seedlings are unlikely to have the same genetic features as parent plants. Some plant species do not generate viable seeds, making them unsuitable for propagation. This method can’t be used to propagate plants that don’t contain seeds. Because the Progenies aren’t true to type, they may end up being inferior. In commercial orchards, uniform quality, growth, and producing capacity are required, and such trees are not grown from seed. Seedlings have a long time of development. The seed must be sowed fresh, that is, right after it has been extracted. For example, an orange plant produced as a seedling takes 8-10 years to bear fruit, whereas budded plants bear fruit in 3-4 years. The seedling trees are rather huge. Due to the huge size of seedling trees, the cost of harvesting, trimming, training, and crop protection rises.

Asexual Propagation

Asexual propagation is the process of multiplying any plant portion from vegetative parts such as roots, stems, and leaves. Cuttings, layering, and grafting were among the techniques used. It’s also known as clonal propagation or vegetative propagation.

Advantages of vegetative propagation:

1) Progenies are faithful to type, resulting in uniform fruit quality and development.

2) Some rootstocks are resistant or tolerant to severe weather elements like as frost, as well as adverse soil conditions such as salt or alkanity. For example, Trifoliate orange (Ponicirus trifoliate) is a frost-resistant rootstock, whereas Rangpur lime is a salinity-resistant rootstock.

3) The resistance of some rootstocks to pests and diseases. Apples grafted on Merton 778 and 779 rootstocks, for example, are resistant to wolly aphids.

4) Fruit that is vegetatively propagated bears fruit early.

5) Seedlings are often taller than vegetatively grown plants. Dwarf trees provide for easier trimming, spraying, and harvesting, as well as a greater number of plants per unit space.

6) Novelty may be created by grating or budding a variety of plants on a single plant, such as roses or mangoes.

7) The plant produces fruit that is seedless.

8) To save the plant, bridge grafting or inarching can be used to fix damaged parts of the tree trunk or rotted rost.