Applied aspects of plant tissue culture with special reference to tree improvement

Abstract

The potential application of plant tissue culture for the improvement of agriculture crops has been very well established. Present-day advances in plant cell and tissue culture have reached new heights. Forest trees are important sources of wood products. The world demand for wood is expected to double by the year 2000. The forest improvement programmes generally practised at present are not adequate to meet the growing demand and unless suitable techniques are evolved, there is going to be a shortage of world. Tissue culture can offer a solution to this problem. In our laboratory, we have been interested for the past five years in the application of plant tissue culture for the improvement of economically important trees like sandalwood, eucalyptus and rubber. In sandalwood somatic embryogenesis was induced from shoot callus cultures derived from 20-25 year old trees. Embryoids have subsequently developed into well-established plants and planted in the forest area. The technique can be used for the propogation of selected superior varieties.