Tissue Culture of Fruit Crops

Abstract

Fruit trees are traditionally multiplied by vegetative means such as cutting, grafting and layering. The low speed of clone production and the disease problems are our main concerns. The application of in vitro techniques to fruit crops have been studied in terms of micropropagation. In spite that the high capital cost may be necessary for micropropagation, such techniques are finding increasing commercial application for the rapid multiplication of desirable and healthy fruit-tree cultivars. Not very much work has been done in the area of protoplast technology, anther culture and others for crop improvement. But the study on these techniques offers enormous economic potential in the long term and this pressure is likely to stimulate the development of these areas.