About Tissue Culture
Tissue Culture Technology: Cashing in on Cloning
Whoever said that variety is the spice of life must have been referring to the horticulture industry. Finding and commercialising new and exciting plant varieties that will surprise and delight customers is essential in this business. That is where AgriForest Bio-Technologies can help nurseries, growers, and garden centres stay one step ahead of the game. AgriForest specialises in bringing unique or difficult to propagate varieties into production on a commercial scale over a brief time span.
What is Tissue Culture?
How does AgriForest go about turning one plant with the desired characteristics into tens of thousands of identical plants in as fast as one year? Through its patented tissue culture protocols that it has developed over its twenty years in business.
Tissue culture is a process that involves exposing plant tissue to a specific regimen of nutrients, hormones, and light under sterile, in vitro conditions to produce many new plants, each a clone of the original mother plant, over a very short period of time. AgriForest’s tissue culture plants are characterised by disease free growth, a more fibrous, healthier root system, a bushier branching habit, and a higher survival rate.
There are three main steps to the tissue culture process. Following these three stages, the plants are then moved from the laboratory to the greenhouses for acclimatisation and further development.
STAGE I is the initiation phase. It concerns the establishment of plant tissue in vitro by sterilizing the material and initiating it into culture.
STAGE II is the multiplication phase. At this stage, the in vitro plant material is re-divided and placed in a medium with plant growth regulators that induce the proliferation of multiple shoots. This process is repeated many times until the number of plants desired is reached.
STAGE III is the root formation phase. It involves the introduction of hormones to induce rooting and the formation of complete plantlets.
When Can Tissue Culture Help With Your Growing Needs?
Plant tissue culture technology has proven itself to be an effective and viable option for growers to seriously consider in a variety of different situations.
When large-scale propagation of new or superior plant varieties is required for early introduction to market
Following a decision to release a new variety into the market, the key to success for growers is rapid scale up and production on a commercial level. Tissue culture is often the fastest and most economical means to achieve this goal. We suggest that growers continually compare the cost of conventional propagation methods to micropropagation, especially when conducted by an established tissue culture company with a proven track record of mass propagation such as AgriForest.
Give us a call or email us for detailed pricing information. We are certain that you will be pleased with our competitive rates!
When mass multiplication is needed for varieties which are difficult to regenerate by conventional methods of propagation
It is often the case that new or highly valued plant varieties are also the most difficult to propagate using traditional means. Here again, tissue culture technology can be very helpful to growers.
The speed of plant multiplication and the quality and uniformity achieved by AgriForest’s micropropagation process can be considerably superior to conventional methods.
When disease-free plant propagation is important
One of the inherent requirements of the tissue culture process is that it be conducted in sterile, aseptic conditions. This results in plants that are generally free of bacterial and fungal diseases. This aspect of tissue culture is especially helpful for growers that are propagating plant varieties that have major systemic disease problems.
AgriForest’s Tissue Culture Plants
The tissue culture process takes place in sterile conditions, and uses hormones that have been shown to have a carryover effect once plants are moved to external conditions. Furthermore, tissue culture leads to the regeneration of whole plants, with their own full root systems and vigorous top growth like young seedlings. As a result, AgriForest’s tissue culture plants have many visible benefits. Our plants:
- are guaranteed to be disease free
- have a more fibrous, healthier root system free of any root rot problems
- exhibit a denser, bushier branching habit
- are characterised by more vigorous growth after transplanting
- have a higher survival rate
- are ready for re-sale in a shorter time
These benefits of AgriForest’s tissue culture plants result in significant cost savings for growers due to a reduction in growing space and time, and a decrease in the labour required to yield a marketable product!.