PROPAGATING PLANTS

ASEXUALLY

Unit. Plant Science

Problem Area. Plant Propagation
Objectives
1. Define asexual propagation and identify the
advantages and disadvantages of asexual
reproduction.
2. List and describe the methods of asexual
reproduction.
Terms
•adventitious roots •callous
•cleft grafting
•agar
•clone
•air layering •cuttings

•aseptic •division

•explants
•asexual reproduction
•grafting
•bark grafting
•hardwood cuttings
•budding •laminar airflow hoods
Terms •scion
•layering •semi-hardwood cuttings

•separation
•leaf cutting
•simple layering
•leaf-bud cutting
•softwood cuttings
•mound layering •stem cutting

•patch budding •stock plants

•t-budding
•plant propagation
•tissue culture
•plantlets
•trench layering
•rootstock •whip-and-tongue grafting
 What is asexual propagation, and what are the
advantages and disadvantages of asexual
reproduction?

 Asexual reproduction in plants involves

the propagation of new plants using
only the vegetative parts of the parent
plant.
 A common term used for increasing the
numbers of plants is plant propagation.
 This is made possible by the a plant’s ability to regenerate
missing plant parts.
 A. Asexual propagation enables the production of a
plant that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to
cultivate because the plant does not produce viable seed
or the seed is difficult to germinate.
 What is asexual propagation, and what are the
advantages and disadvantages of asexual
reproduction?
 B. Asexual reproduction is used when plants will not
breed true and when it is necessary to maintain certain
genetic forms of the plant.
 The plant produced is a genetic duplicate, or clone, of the
parent plant.
 The plant has the same traits of the parent plant.
 The existence of many valuable crop plants depends upon
the ability to reproduce them asexually.
 C. Asexual propagation may be faster than propagation
by seed.
 Germination and growth of seedlings is often slow compared
to propagation by asexual methods.
 It may also be more economical to produce plants asexually,
and in many cases it is easier.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 The major methods of asexual reproduction are

cuttings, separation, division, layering, grafting,
budding, and tissue culture.
 A. One of the most common and simplest methods of
asexual propagation is through the use of cuttings.
 Cuttings may be made from portions of stems, leaves, or
roots.
 Most greenhouse crops are propagated by herbaceous
or soft stem cuttings.
 Growers often keep stock plants or buy new stock plants
each year, from which stem cuttings are removed.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 1. A stem cutting is a cut portion of

a stem that contains a
terminal bud or lateral buds
and is placed in growing
media to produce roots.
 a. Softwood cuttings—from soft, succulent growth.
 b. Hardwood cuttings—from one-year-old growth,
deciduous, or evergreen plants.
 c. Semi-hardwood cuttings—from woody broad-leaved
plants with new shoots.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 2. Numerous plants can

be propagated using leaf
and leaf-bud cuttings.
 a. A leaf cutting
consists of a leaf blade or
leaf blade with petiole
attached.
 b. A leaf-bud cutting consists of a leaf, petiole, and a
short piece of stem with a lateral bud.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 3. Rooting is a complex physiological

process.
 The speed of root development is influenced by a number of
factors, including the plant species or variety, the age of the
plant, the type and location of the cutting, the absence or
presence of leaves, and the nutritional status of the plant.
 Woody plants tend to take longer to propagate than do
herbaceous, or non-woody, soft stem plants.
 a. Environmental conditions critical for successful rooting
include proper temperature, high humidity, and sufficient light.
 b. Cuttings form roots more quickly if the temperature of the
medium is kept between 75°F and 80°F.
 The warmth speeds metabolic processes.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 c. After the cuttings are

stuck, they must be
kept in a humid environment.
 In greenhouse settings, the cuttings are placed under an
intermittent mist system.
 The mist is applied between dawn and sunset to reduce
water loss from transpiration.
 Cuttings are misted regularly until the roots form and can
absorb moisture for the plant.
 Adventitious roots are roots that begin growth from the
stem or a leaf.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 d. Most plants do best in a loose, well-drained growing

medium.
 The growing medium provides moisture, aeration, and other
conditions favorable for root formation.
 A sterile, disease-free rooting medium is essential for success.
 Sand, vermiculite, peat moss, and perlite are common
materials used alone or in combination in good rooting
medium.
 e. Many plant cuttings root easily and do not need
special treatment.
 However, some plants root better when treated with root-
inducing chemicals.
 Synthetic growth regulators of varying strengths hasten root
initiation as well as increase the number of roots formed.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 B. Propagation can be done by separating or

dividing plants.
 Some plants produce vegetative plant structures that can
be removed intact from the parent plant.
 Removal and planting
of these vegetative
structures is separation.
 With division, the plant
roots or the entire plant
may be cut into sections
to make two or more plants
from the original plant.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 C. Layering is a method of asexual propagation in

which roots form on a stem while it is still attached to
the parent plant.
 The parent plant supports the new plant during root
development.
 Once the new plant can function on its own, it is
removed from the parent.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 1. Simple layering is
accomplished by bending a
branch to the ground,
slightly cutting or wounding
the stem, and covering the
wounded portion with 2 to 3 inches of soil.
 The wounded area forms a callous and then produces
new roots.
 After new roots are fairly well developed, the plant is
removed from the parent plant.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 2. Trench layering involves

digging a shallow trench
near the parent plant.
 An entire branch is bent over,
placed in the trench, and then covered with 2 to 5 inches
of soil.
 After a few weeks, roots develop along the stem, and
new shoots form at each node.
 When the new plants reach the desirable size, they are
separated from the parent plant.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 3. Ornamental shrubs, roses, and

gooseberries are examples of plants
frequently propagated by mound layering.
 To perform mound layering, the grower
severely prunes the parent plant to
stubs that are 2 to 4 inches high.
 The stubs are then covered with soil.
 The mounded shrub is left undisturbed until the following
spring.
 During that time, roots develop at the base of each stem.
 The newly rooted plants can then be separated from the
parent plant.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 4. Air layering involves girdling the

stem about 6 to 9 inches from the
growing tip.
 Root-inducing hormone is applied to
the cut area, and moist sphagnum
moss is placed over the exposed area.
 Plastic is wrapped and tied around the moss to maintain
moisture.
 After roots develop, the top part of the plant is cut just
below the rooted area.
 The new plant is then potted to grow on its own.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 D. Grafting is the process of connecting two plant parts in such

a way that they will unite and continue to grow as one plant.
 A grafted plant consists of the scion, which is a short piece of stem
with two or more buds, and the rootstock, which is the lower portion
of the graft.
 1. Several things must be done to ensure a successful graft.
 a. There must be contact of the cambium layer of the scion and the
cambium layer of the stock.
 b. It is essential that the graft be kept moist.
 c. It is important that the scion and stock are compatible plants.
 This means that plants of the same genus must be used (e.g., apple to
apple).
 d. The grafting procedure must be done at the proper time of the
year.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 2. Plants are grafted for a

number of reasons.
 a. Grafting is done to produce
more plants.
 b. Selection of appropriate
rootstocks can have a dwarfing
effect on the stem.
 c. Selection of appropriate
rootstocks can increase the
hardiness of a plant.
 d. Disease resistance in a plant can be improved.
 e. Grafting can change the natural form of a plant.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 3. The main reason for

grafting is to asexually
propagate plants that are
difficult to propagate by
other methods.
 Grafting is often used in the
production of orchard trees,
shade trees, and roses.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 a. Whip-and-tongue grafting
is commonly used to
propagate fruit trees.
 The root of a young
seedling tree is used for the
rootstock.
 The scion is a dormant twig
containing three or four
buds.
 The diameter of the scion
and the rootstock must be
about the same,
approximately the size of a
pencil.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 b. Cleft grafting is often used to join a smaller scion to a

larger stock part.
 Cleft grafting is usually done in late winter to graft new
cultivars on to existing tree limbs or rootstocks.
 c.Bark grafting is similar to cleft grafting in that it joins
smaller scion wood to a larger rootstock.
 Thisgrafting method is done in the early spring when the
bark easily separates from the wood along the cambium
layer.
 Bark grafting is used to propagate fruit, ornamental, and
shade trees.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 E. Budding is similar to grafting except

that the scion is reduced to a
single bud with a small
portion of bark or wood attached.
 The single bud scion is joined
with the rootstock to form a new
plant.
 Budding is done in the spring or
fall when the bark separates easily from the wood of the
rootstock.
 Budding is faster, easier, and more economical than grafting.
 No wax is necessary, and the cambium layers need not be
aligned.
 Also, less scion wood is used.
 Most roses and fruit trees are propagated by budding.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 1. T-budding involves taking

buds from one plant and
inserting them under the
bark of the rootstock.
 2. Patch budding is used
when the plant’s bark is
thick, such as on pecans
and walnuts.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 F. Tissue culture, or
micropropagation, is a very
technical method of asexual
propagation that involves the
growing of plant cells or tissues on
artificial media under sterile
conditions.
 Foliage plants, woody
ornamentals, perennials, and cut
flowers are commonly
propagated by tissue culture
methods.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 1. There are a number of advantages to

tissue culture over other methods of
propagation.
 a. Large numbers of plants can be produced
from a single plant in a relatively small
space in a short period of time.
 This reduces growing space, labor, and plant maintenance
requirements.
 b. Viruses and other systemic diseases are eliminated by
propagating the quickly dividing cells of the shoot tip.
 c. Tissue culture gives the grower a means to produce
plants with identical traits.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 d. Horticultural cultivars can be improved

by selecting plants that vary slightly from
the parent plant.
 Examples of characteristics subject to
improvement are leaf shape, disease
resistance, growth habit, and flower color.
 e. Tissue culture is a required technique for
producing genetically engineered plants.
 f. Tissue culture propagation results in
excellent basal branching of some plants.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 2. The tissue culture propagation

process can be defined in four main
stages.
 a. In the first stage, small pieces of plant
material, called explants, are carefully
removed from the parent plant.
 Explants are obtained from the actively growing part of a desired
plant, such as shoot tips, sections of leaves, stems and roots,
embryos etc.
 Explants have bacteria or fungal spores on the tissue surface.
 Therefore, they must be cleaned before being placed in the culture.
 A short bath in a 10 percent bleach solution followed by a rinse in
sterile water is often effective in killing microorganisms.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 b. From this point, until stage four,

tissue culture must be done under
aseptic, or sterile, conditions.
 The presence of any bacteria or
fungal spores will contaminate the
culture.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 c.Tissue culture labs are designed to

provide a clean environment.
 Technicians scrub much like a surgeon does
before surgery.
 Media, tools, and bottles or jars are
autoclaved.
 Autoclaving involves the heating of the
materials to 245°F for 15 minutes to kill
all bacteria and fungi.
 Also, to lessen the chance of contamination,
work with the cultures is done under
laminar airflow hoods.
 Laminar airflow hoods filter bacteria and
fungal spores from the air.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 d. Explants are placed on a

sterile agar medium in glass
bottles or test tubes.
 The agar is a gel that contains
water, sugars, nutrients, and plant
hormones to support and promote
plant growth.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 3. In stage two, the cells of the

explants multiply in one of two
ways.
 a. They may form a callous, which is a
group of cells with no particular
function.
 Given the right hormones in the media,
these callous cells differentiate and
develop into small plantlets consisting of
leaves and stems.
What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 b.The other possibility for stage two involves the rapid

multiplication of plantlets.
 Cytokinins placed in the media encourage an increase in the
number of buds on the explants, usually six to eight per shoot.
 Each bud is capable of becoming a plant and producing
more buds.
 Branching occurs as these buds develop into shoots, or
plantlets.
 These plantlets are divided and transferred to test tubes or
jars.
 New plantlets are continually cycled to new containers.
 In this way, a single explant can produce millions of plantlets
in a year.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 4. When the plantlets have developed,

they are ready for the third stage,
the formation of roots.
 Shoots are transplanted to a medium
containing a higher level of auxins.
 The auxins induce the growth of roots.
 The plantlets are also given higher light intensity in
preparation for stage four.
 What are the different methods of asexual
reproduction?

 5. In stage four, the plantlets are removed from the

glass container.
 They are divided.
 Agar is washed from the plants.
 They are planted in a sterile growing medium and
placed in a greenhouse.
 Since the humidity in the greenhouse is much lower than
in glass containers, care must be taken during this
transition to acclimatize the plants to their new
environment.
 It is a common practice to place the young plants under
a misting system until they grow accustomed to the
environment and develop a stronger root system.
Review
•What is asexual propagation, and what are the
advantages and disadvantages of asexual
reproduction?
•What are the different methods of asexual

reproduction?