Introduction

1. Introduction • Plant propagation is the process of generating new plants from a variety of sources like seeds, cuttings, bulbs, corms, leaves, roots, etc. • Plant propagation also refer to the artificial and natural transportation and dispersal of seeds and plant parts and offspring. • Plant propagation is essential for production and development of new plants in any horticulture nursery.

2. Importance of Plant Propagation • Plant propagation helps to produce large number of offspring's in short time and with minimum mortality. • Plant propagation is necessary for production of new breeds or varieties of plants which have better genetic constitution and improved quality and quantity of the produce. • Exact genetic replica of the mother plants can be produced in vegetative plant propagation.

3. Methods of Plant Propagation

4. Importance of Vegetative Propagation • Vegetative propagation is method of production of new plants from the vegetative parts of the mother plant like, leaves, stem, roots. • Fertilization does not occur in vegetative production and therefore the new offspring's are genetic replicas of the mother plants, used to retain quantitative and qualitative traits of the mother plant s. • Vegetative propagation is used in case of seedless plants and plants which are difficult to propagate by seed.

5. Limitations of Vegetative Propagation • Qualitative and quantitative improvement in next generation is not possible by vegetative propagation method. Propagation of plants by these methods is expensive and requires technical skill and expertise. • Plants propagated by vegetative means gradually lose their vigor as there is no genetic variation. They becomes more prone to pest and diseases attack than plants grown by sexual methods.

6. Importance of Sexual Propagation • Sexual propagation is method of producing new plants from seeds, which are produced from the process of fertilization. Seeds are the only means of sexual propagation. • This propagation method is very useful for bringing about genetic improvement in plants with respect to quality and quantity of yield. • Sexual propagation is necessary for crop improvement and development of new varieties and hybrids. It is economical, as large number of offspring's are produced in a very short time.

7. Limitations of Sexual Propagation • Hybrids propagated by this method cannot produce true to type offspring's and they may loose their traits and characteristics. • Some plants like Seedless Grapes, Papaya, Peppermint are difficult to propagate by this method as they do not produce seeds or the seeds are not viable. • Orchids and bamboo plants produce seeds which are viable for very short time or are difficult to germinate and produce .