Vegetative Propagation Biotechnologies For Tree Improvement

In the Indian context; papers of a workshop.

Contributed articles.

Provided here are both underlying theory and recent results concerning the propagation and use of clones in research and in production forestry. State-of-the-art science and case histories treating production, testing, multiplication and deployment of clones are presented. Agroforestry, urban forestry and christmas-tree farming are covered, along with more traditional multiple-use forestry and high-intensity forestry for biomass, wood and fiber production. Clonal forestry is contrasted to the more recent developments of "family forestry", and the classical tree-improvement approach relying on seed-orchards. The history of clonal forestry is covered with reviews of several centuries experience with Sugi in Japan and poplars in Europe. The impacts and use of clones in the contexts of genetic conservation and biodiversity are discussed, as are the laws and regulations affecting clonal production and deployment.

Plant cell and tissue culture is now an established method which can be used for clonal propagation of plant material. While such propagation may be uneconomic for field crops which can be readily propagated from seed, the prospects for clonal propagation of woody perennials are greater. A number of woody plants have been shown to produce multiple shoots and roots in vitro, and such micropropagation methods also include embryo culture and somatic embryogenesis. These methods are now becoming established alongside more traditional methods of macropropagation. This book reviews our current knowledge of a number of aspects of these methods for rapid and mass propagaion of fast-growing woody species, and is based on a conference organized by the Committee on the Application of Science to Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture (CASAFA) of the international Council of Scientific Unions. It will therefore be of interest to research workers in plant biotechnology and forestry.

This volume covers recent advances in the vegetative propagation of woody plants by tissue culture. A wide range of topics relevant to micropropagation of woody plants are discussed by renowned international scientists. These include cellular contro of morphogenesis, light regimes in tissue culture, maturation and rejuvenation, synthetic seed, genetics of micropropagated plants, haploid embryogenesis, protoplast culture, and acclimatization of ex vitro woody plants. In addition to micropropagation of selected woody plants, both gymnosperms and angiosperms, this volume also includes in vitro genetic selection, strategic planning for application of biotechnology for genetics and breeding, and clonal options for woody plant improvement. A balanced view of both perspectives and limitations of woody plant micropropagation is presented.

Clonal forestry has come of age. Basic techniques in genetics and biotechnology of other organisms are generally applicable to forest trees. However, there are some differences, in particular in the juvenile- and maturation-related regeneration. Examined here are crucial topics of juvenility, maturation and rejuvenation in clonal propagation of trees. In addition, the genetics of clones, population biology of clonal deployment, propagation and field testing of clones, clone identification, clonal physiology, regeneration and variation in plant tissue cultures, the role of somatic embryogenesis in clonal forestry, and recent developments in biotechnology, including the molecular structure of trees and gene transfer are covered in depth.

'frees contribute a major part of fuel, fodder and fruit, and are an im of bioenergy. They are now needed in large numbers more portant source than ever before for afforestation and social forestry, so that fast-grow ing and multipurpose trees assume great importance. After extensive in discriminate deforestation and rapid depletion of genetic stocks, efforts are now being made to evolve methods for clonal mass propagation of improved and elite trees. Production of short-duration trees with a rapid turnover of biomass, and induction of genetic variability through in vitro manipulation for the production of novel fruit and forest trees, which are high-yielding and resistant to pests and diseases, and trees which display increased photosynthetic efficiency are in demand. These objectives are well within the realm of horticultural and forest biotech nology. Some of the recent advances, such as the regeneration of com plete trees from isolated protoplasts, somatic hybridization, and the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in various tree species have opened new vistas for the genetic engineering of fruit and forest trees. This book is a continuation of the earlier volume Trees I, and presents 31 chapters on fruit, forest, nut and ornamental trees, such as avocado, pineapple, crabapple, quince, pistachio, walnut, hazelnut, date palm, oil palm, cacao, rubber, maple, sweet-gum, poplars, birches, Chinese tallow, willows, oaks, paper mulberry, rhododendrons, Scots pine, Calabrian pine, Douglas-fir, redwood, ginkgo, cycads and some flowering trees.