Vegetative Propagation in Plants

Introduction

Vegetative propagation is a method or process which is effectively used in implementing control over the environment. This method helps a plant reproduce from its leaves, roots, and stem; however, it can also occur through fragmentation and regeneration via specific vegetative parts of the plant.

Vegetative Propagation

Vegetative propagation is a process that is used in cultivating and increasing the number of plants of a particular species; it can be done in both sexual and asexual ways, and it is most often used when the crop does not produce any seeds, or the seeds are not valuable for long dormancy. Also, this method usually relies on different parts of the plants, such as stem and roots, which can be regenerated through vegetative propagation,  also called clones.

Types of Vegetative Propagation

There are mainly two types of vegetative propagation: natural and artificial vegetative propagation.

Natural Vegetative Propagation 

In this method, the plants naturally grow and develop from different parts without any human interference, and the plant structures can arise from team rise on bulbs, tubers, runners, etc. 

• Leaves: Leaves of the plant get detached, and new plants grow from them

• Stems: The runners grow horizontally concerning the ground, whereas the buds are formed at the nodes and internodes of the runners 

• Bulbs: They are an underground stem where the leaves are attached, and these bulbs are also capable of storing food. The centre of a bulb is composed of leaves, and flowers can also be developed from lateral buds

• Roots: some roots are modified as tubers, where new plants emerge from the swollen part, and the birds are formed at the base of the stem

Artificial Vegetative Propagation 

There are several types of vegetative reproduction plant initiated by humans in fields and laboratories. Some most common artificial type of reproduction is- 

• Cutting: In this process, a part of the plan specifically early for the stem is cut and then planted in the soil 

• Layering: in this process, the plant’s stem is bent towards the ground covered with soil so that the adventitious roads can emerge from those parts covered in soil and the attached stem becomes a layer with developing roots

• Grafting: In this process, the parts of other plant are attached with the stem of the plant rooted in the ground, and it issues after graft become integrated with the rooted plant and develop as a single plant over the time 

• Tissue culture: In vegetative propagation, this is one of the most common processes practised by the scientist in their laboratories and feels different hair parts of the plant are cultured in the laboratory to develop a new type of plant. This technique helps increase the number of rare and endangered plant species that cannot grow in normal conditions

Vegetative Propagation in Plants 

The sexual plant propagation methods produce different adventitious parts in forming a new plant, such as the leaves, stems, and roots. Plants produced in this way are one of the most important advantages of vegetative propagation since they have different types of identical characteristics to their parent plants. The generated plants through this process are called clones, and it is widely adopted to fix and maintain the desired characteristics under domestication. It is a very important process that helps the plants spread viruses and contribute to horticultural practices—for vegetative propagation examples sweet potato, sugarcane, pineapple, banana, berries, apple, grapes, etc.

Conclusion

Vegetative propagation is indeed an important and effective way of farming different kinds of crops so that they can be produced in high quality and quantity, improving the economy of a country. However, these also affect the environmental balance making these types of plants easily susceptible to a certain kind of virus which would lead to ruining of all the crops. There are two types of methods by which vegetative propagation can be implemented that is sexual and asexual. And the processes by which these layers are are both available naturally and artificially.