Micropropagation: Methods, Stages, Advantages

Micropropagation is a method of plant propagation that involves taking very small bits of plant tissue from a plant and growing them in a lab to make new plants. This method is commonly used in commercial gardening. Let’s discuss micropropagation, its techniques, stages, advantages, and disadvantages in detail. 

Keyterms: Micropropagation, plant propagation, Asexual reproduction, tissue, seeds, reproduction, soil

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Micropropagation

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Micropropagation is the method of artificially propagating plants vegetatively using tissue culture or cell culture techniques. Plants are generated in vitro using asexual reproduction or vegetative propagation in this artificial propagation technique.

• A large variety of commercial vegetatively proliferated plant species have been subjected to the process.
• Plants can reproduce sexually (through the age of seeds) or asexually (by the replication of vegetative parts).

Clonal propagation, where plants can be filled from a single individual by asexual ways of reproduction, is one method of asexual reproduction that involves multiplying genetic replicas of plants.

Asexual reproduction via multiplication of vegetative elements is the only option for the in vivo propagation in some of the plants that do not produce functioning seeds. Example: figs, grapes, bananas, etc. Potato, apple, and a variety of other ornamental plants have all been successfully propagated via clonal propagation techniques.

Micropropagation

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Micropropagation Techniques

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• Meristem Culture

Subtending leaf origins and meristems are inserted in their appropriate growing media cultures and allowed to grow in this type of micropropagation. An elongated rooted plantlet is developed after a few weeks. These plantlets are put into the soil once they have grown to a significant height. This procedure can yield a disease-free plant that can be utilised for rapid multiplication of diverse herbaceous plants.

Meristem Culture

• Callus Culture

This procedure involves placing selected plant tissue in an artificial growth medium culture until the callus forms. After callus formation, the plants are placed in a culture medium containing plant growth regulators to induce adventitious organ formation. After a few weeks, a new plantlet is gradually exposed to the outdoors.

Callus Culture

• Suspension Culture

Cells or groups of cells are spread and allowed to develop in an aerated and sterile liquid culture medium in this method of micropropagation.

• Embryo Culture

Embryo cultivation involves extracting the embryo and placing it in an aseptic culture medium with the appropriate nutrients.

• Protoplast Culture

To reconstruct the cell wall and callus, the plant cell is extracted and grown in an appropriate medium. Later, under suitable circumstances, the cell develops a cell wall, which is followed by a rise in cell division and cellular differentiation, culminating in the formation of a new plant.

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Stages Involved in Micropropagation

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Stages Involved in Micropropagation

Stage 0- 

This is the first stage in micropropagation, and it entails the selection and development of stock plants under controlled conditions for roughly 3 months.

Stage I- 

The inception and foundation of a culture in a decent medium are completed at this level. The selection of appropriate explants is important. Organs, shoot tips, and axillary buds are the most commonly used explants. Before use, the chosen explant is cleaned and washed.

Stage II- 

The considerable movement of micropropagation in a specified culture medium occurs at this stage. The majority of Stage II entails the augmentation of shoots or the rapid incipient organism arrangement from the explant. A growth chamber with a temperature of 20 - 24 °C, a light intensity of 2000 - 4000 lux, and an alighting time of 16 hours or so is used.

Stage III-

This stage entails switching shoots to a mode that allows for rapid advancement into shoots. The shoots are planted in soil to form roots. While taking care of innumerable species, in vitro establishing shoots is popular.

Stage IV-

This stage entails the establishment of plantlets in the soil. This is completed by transferring the stage III plantlets from the research facility to the nursery's ground. Stage III is skipped for some plant species, and un-established stage II shoots are planted in pots or in the correct fertilizer blend.

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Advantages of Micropropagation

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1. Plant tissues in little quantities are sufficient for micropropagation to produce a large number of clones in a year. To produce an equivalent number of plants using conventional methods, some investment would be required.
2. In contrast to those plant species that show resistance to typical mass propagation methods, micropropagation provides a viable alternative.
3. Plants may be kept in large numbers in small areas. This aids in the preservation of endangered species and germplasm capacity.
4. In vitro stock expansion should be achievable at any time of year. Similarly, a nursery can produce natural, elaborate, and consistent tree species.
5. Plant yields are increased, and the force of horticulture species is increased.
6. It presents a fast global trade of plant material without the risk of sickness. This method reduces the amount of time necessary for isolation.
7. The micropropagation process is very useful for seed production in specific harvests, because seed production requires a large amount of hereditary protection.
8. Micropropagation has distinct favourable circumstances than traditional engendering procedures, therefore it has a higher degree and future for the development of substantial plant-based phytopharmaceuticals.
9. Regardless of plant availability, micropropagation is a viable alternative to traditional methods for producing controlled biochemical measurements. As a result, in this field, intense and uninterrupted efforts will coordinate the controlled and fruitful synthesis of substantial, explicit, but unknown plant synthetic concoctions.

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Disadvantages of Micropropagation

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Micropropagation isn't always the most effective method of plant multiplication. The following are some of the limitations to its application:

1. It's expensive, with a possible work cost of more than 70%.
2. A monoculture is offered after micropropagation, resulting in a lack of disease versatility for the most part, as all descendants' plants may be helpless against similar contaminations.
3. Poisoned offspring can result from a contaminated plant test. This is remarkable since stock plants are evaluated and monitored to ensure that refined plants are not contaminated by infection or development.
4. Not all plants can be efficiently tissue refined because the exact development model is unclear and also the plants emit auxiliary metabolic synthetics that confuse or harm the explant.
5. Some plants or cultivars don't turn out as expected in terms of type as a result of tissue refinement. The type of explant material utilised in the initial phase, as well as the age of the propagule line are frequent factors.
6. Infectious organisms can be difficult to eradicate from some plants.

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Things to Remember

• Micropropagation is the method of artificially propagating plants vegetatively using tissue culture or cell culture techniques.
• In micropropagation, plants are propagated by developing plantlets in tissue culture before planting them.
• It helps in the production of plants with desired traits.
• It's a step-by-step procedure for producing a huge number of plants from a single explant.
• Genetically, the plants generated are identical to the parent plant.
• Some of the micropropagation techniques are meristem culture, callus culture, suspension culture, embryo culture and protoplast culture. 
• The process of micropropagation involves five stages namely, Stage 0, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 and stage 4.