Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Crop Improvement Through Plant Tissue
Culture
Sumiya Jamsheed, Saiema Rasool, Shivani Koul, Mohamed Mahgoub Azooz
and Parvaiz Ahmad
Abstract
Plant tissue culture has emerged as a powerful and cost-effective tool for
the crop improvement. Tissue culture is alternatively called cell, tissue and organ
culture through
in vitro
condition. It can be employed for large scale propagation
of disease free clones and gene pool conservation. Agricultural industry has applied
immensely
in vitro
propagation approach for large scale plant multiplication of elite
superior varieties. As a result, hundreds of plant tissue culture laboratories have
come up worldwide, especially in the developing countries due to cheap labour
costs. Tissue culture has been exploited to create genetic variability from which
crop plants can be improved and to increase the number of desirable germplasms
available to the plant breeder. The selection of somaclonal variations appearing in
the regenerated plants may be genetically stable and useful in crop improvement.
Available methods for the transfer of genes could significantly simplify the breed-
ing procedures and overcome some of the agronomic and environmental problems,
which otherwise would not be achievable through conventional propagation meth-
ods. Transgenic crops resistant to pests, insects, diseases and other abiotic stresses is
a great achievement in the field of plant biotechnology. This article is cover
in vitro
propagation and role of biotechnology in crop improvement.
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