Department of Horticulture

College of Agriculture and Food Sciences

Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte

Name: Whenonah S. Eli Lab Schedule: M 10:00-01:00

Course and Year: BSA-1 Instructor: Mr. Reian Laniba

CROP SCIENCE 22

Laboratory Exercise No. 5

NURSERY PRACTICES AND ASEXUAL PROPAGATION INTRODUCTION

The propagation and multiplication of plants have traditionally been done

primarily through seeds. However, there are some plants that, when grown from
seeds, do not run true to type or do not have the same desirable characteristics as
the parent plant. Examples of these plants include fruit trees. The desirable qualities
of the mother plant are preserved through asexual propagation, which also reduces
the amount of time required before the plant can begin bearing fruit and protects the
species from going extinct. In addition, this is the only method for propagating plants
that do not produce seeds that can be grown successfully. To be successful in plant
propagation, one must know about mechanical manipulation and technical skills,
which require a certain amount of experience and practice. There are five primary
approaches to asexual propagation: the cottage, layering or marcottage, graftage,
separation and division, and tissue culture. Each is described in more detail below.

The separation process involves detaching naturally occurring organs from

the mother plant and removing them. This technique can be utilized with plants that
have modified organs such as a sucker, runner, slip, crown, bulb, corm tuberous root,
rhizome, or plantlet. These modified organs can be grown first in the nursery before
being transplanted into the field to improve their chances of development.

The modified organ must be cut into sections or pieces before division occurs.
Each section or part must contain at least two buds. Banana and abaca are two
examples of modified organs that can be divided into "seed pieces." Other examples
include the tubers of potato and tube, the storage roots of sweet potato, and the
rhizome of ginger and turmeric.

A method of asexual propagation known as cuttings involves allowing a

missing organ to regenerate on a detached part of the plant's vegetative tissue to
produce a fully formed plant. For this purpose, any part of the plant, such as the root,
stem, or leaf, can be used. Root cuttings, stem cuttings, and leaf cuttings are the
three types of cuttings utilized in this process.

The process of marcotting, also referred to as layering, involves rooting a

shoot or branch that is still attached to the mother plant and then later separating the
rooted shoot or branch to grow into a new plant on its own. The layering process is
distinct from cutting in that the projection is allowed to form roots before being
severed from the mother plant.

In-plant propagation, the term "graftage" refers to joining two different plant
parts to have those parts united so that the plant can continue to grow as one. The
rootstock typically provides the root system of grafted plants. The upper part of the
plant is referred to as the scion, and it will eventually develop into the plant's shoot
system. In this new plant, you have now combined the desirable root system with a
shoot system that possesses good characteristics such as early maturity, improved
fruit yield quality, improved resistance to insect pests and diseases, etc.

B. Demonstration and practicum on different nursery practices and tour to the

nursery

A demonstration of the following practices will also be done:

1. seed extraction
2. sowing
3. soil media preparation
4. pricking, potting, repotting
5. blocking
6. fertilization
7. balling
8. care of propagated seedlings, seedlings for rootstocks

Seedlings will be pricked and potted in plastic bags to be filled with previously
prepared soil mixture. Each student will be required to pot 10 seedlings and arrange
them in potbeds by blocking. The seedlings should be irrigated thereafter.
A tour around the nursery will be held to show to students various tools, equipment
and physical structures of the nursery. The importance and uses of the different tools
and of proper nursery layout will also be emphasized.
Second Meeting

A. Asexual Propagation
1. Cuttage (Group Work). The class will be divided into groups. Each group will do
the following:

a. Get 10 leaves of snake plant or any suitable plant. Plant leaves on a rooting bed.
b. Collect ten stem cuttings of santan. Soak the base of the five cuttings on
Napthaline acetic acid solution and other five cuttings in water overnight and plant in
the rooting bed.

2. Marcotting (individual work)

a. Instruction will be given on which plant to marcot. Select a branch suitable for
marcotting.
b. Using sharp knife, remove a ring of bark, the length of which should be
approximately twice the size of the stem diameter.
c. Scrape the cambium layer.
Place a ball of moist medium (sawdust, sphagnum moss, or any other material). The
amount of the medium increases with the size of the stem and the size of the cut.
d. Cover the medium with a piece of polyethylene or plastic sheet and tightly tie the
both end to prevent loss of water.
3. Cleft Grafting
1. Secure the following materials:
a. sharp grafting knife
b. scion (dormant budstick)
c. stock (in active vegetative growth)
d. plastic strips and ice candy wrapper
2. Select a healthy rootstock about the size of an ordinary lead pencil. Cut off the
upper portion of the rootstock to a desirable height where there is an active growth
(part of the stem where the green color of the bark is slightly turning brownish or
where the bark easily slips).

3. Make a longitudinal cut at the center of the cut surface of the stock that is deep
enough to accommodate the wedge that you may cut on the scion.

4.After preparing the rootstock, select a healthy scion of the same size as the
rootstock and about 10 to 15 cm long. Hold firmly the scion and make wedge about 4
to 5 cm long on the basal section.

5. Insert the scion into the stock making sure that the wedge fits smugly into the cleft
and that there is maximum cambial contact between the scion and the stock. Secure
firmly the graft union with a budding tape/ polyethylene strip just enough to hold
the union but not to damage/crush the tissue.

6. Soon after the graft is made, protect the scion from drying by wrapping it with

plastic strip and then covering it with ice candy wrapper.

7. By the time the scion starts sending new shoots, remove the ice candy wrapper
and the plastic strips carefully so as not to damage the young shoots. Provide
optimum care to your newly grafted plants by regular watering, fertilizer application
and pest control.

EXPECTED OUTPUT

It is generally agreed that agriculture is an essential part of the community.

Given that staple crops are the primary source of food that we have access to, we
must increase the production of staple crops. Nevertheless, a growing population and
a decreasing amount of agricultural land cause a lack of food, particularly in countries
considered to be in the third world. Increasing the rate of plant propagation in a
shorter amount of time and using up less space is one approach that can be taken to
address this problem. As a direct consequence of this, plant tissue culture consists of
cultivating plants in an enclosed and carefully managed space.

There are several different asexuals or vegetative reproductive mechanisms

found in plant species. Horticulturists and gardeners have utilized some of these to
reproduce or clone plants expeditiously. In addition, people use methods that plants
do not use, such as tissue culture and grafting, to cultivate their plants. Because of a
phenomenon that is referred to as totipotency, tissue culture allows both commercial
propagators and researchers to take advantage of the ability of separated tissues or
cells to regenerate an entirely new plant. Both parties utilize this ability. Because of
this, it is possible to produce large quantities of disease-free plants in sterile
conditions in a relatively short amount of time.

The process of plant tissue culture includes several steps, such as the
preparation and sterilization of the growing medium, the practice of a sterile transfer
chamber and equipment, the preparation of the plant material, the transfer of the
plant material to the tissue culture medium, the growth of the plants, and the potting
of the clones. The following salient points were discussed throughout the visitation. It
is essential to use containers that have been sterilized to prevent the development of
bacteria, fungal spores, and other types of microorganisms that could impede the
development of the explant. Before you put the explant into the agar medium, you
need to ensure that it has been washed thoroughly with water, soap, and chlorine
bleach. It is done to ensure that all microorganisms are eliminated without causing
any damage to the explant in the process. The plant must be grown in a sterile
environment, particularly during removing individual shoots and moving them to other
containers, to reduce the risk of the plant becoming too crowded. Once the plants
have reached their size as seedlings, they are ready to be transplanted into individual
pots that contain soil. To prevent the growth of bacteria and lessen the likelihood that
an infected plant will pass its illness on to other plants, the plant tissue culture
laboratory needs to have an area dedicated specifically to waste management.

Questions to Answers:
1. Define the following:
A. Nursery – a location where plants are grown and propagated for transplantation,
use as stocks for budding and grafting, or sale.
B. Balling entails digging the seedlings with a ball of soil still attached to the roots.
C. Hardening – the gradual adaptation of greenhouse or indoor plants to outdoor
temperature and growing conditions.
D. Bagging or potting or pricking– transplanting to individual bags or pots with
nutrient-rich soil
E. Scion – a grafted offshoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant.
F. Rootstock – a plant part, usually underground, from which new aboveground
growth can be produced.

2. Complete the following table:

Modified plant part Definition or description Examples

A. Bulb Fleshy leaves or leaf Onion, garlic, lily

bases that function as
food storage organs
during dormancy.

B. Bulbil Plantlets formed on the Agave, tulip, garlic

axils of the leaves on flower
stalk.

C. Corm Underground solid Banana, gabi, abaca

structures having
nodes

and internodes.

D. Cormel Plantlets that arise Taro, banana, yam

from stem.

E. Crown Leafy shoots that arise Pineapple

from the top of a fruit.
 F. Plantlet Small plants that arise from Katakataka,
leaves that may be grown dendrobium,
as a new plant. phalaenopsis

G. Rhizome A modified stem growing Ginger, arrowroot, heliconia

horizontally underground.

H. Rootstock Can refer to a rhizome Mango, tamarind, santol

or underground stem.

I. Runner Specialized stems which Strawberry,

arise from the leaf axils blackpepper, fern
and form roots on their
own.

J. Slip Leafy shoots that arise Pineapple

from axillary bud at the
base of the fruit.

K. Sucker Adventitious leafy shoots Banana, abaca, anthurium

that arise from the stem
base or below the ground.

L. Tuber Underground thickened Potato, cassava, taro

stem with numerous buds
called eyes.

M. Tuberous root Modified roots that serve as Radish, singkamas,

main storage organ of the winged bean
plant.

3. What will happen to the plant material vascular bundles if a dull knife is used in
graftage and cottage?

 Significant damage to the tissues will prevent the graft or cutting from healing
correctly because of the dull knife
.4. What are some of the desirable characteristics to be sought in a certain
rootstock?

 Able to withstand the presence of existing

and potential soil pests.
 Adaptable to the soil in its structure, depth, and fertility.
 Conforming to the chemistry of the soil
 Preferred due to the anticipated availability of soil and water, drainage, and
irrigation methods.
 Suitable for the growing conditions and fruiting characteristics of the variety of
fruit produced.
5. Give a physical/visual description of the cambium layer. Relate why it is scraped
off in marcotting while in graftage, effort is taken that the cambium layer of the stock
and the scion matches.
 The cambium is a relatively thin formative layer found in most vascular plants.
It is responsible for secondary growth and the production of new cells.Marcotting
prevents the wound from healing and prevents the upper and lower barks from
reconnecting, so it should be avoided. In addition, the cambium layer is removed
by scraping to expose the pericycle, where the formation of lateral roots occurs.
During the grafting process, the stock and the scion should be identical to one
another to regenerate as a single organism.

6. What is polarity and why is it of vital importance in plant propagation?

 The ability of a plant to keep its spatial orientation even after being severed
from its mother plant is referred to as polarity. It is essential to the process of
plant propagation because it eliminates the possibility of making mistakes in the
growth direction of the plant. For instance, in grafting, the scion taken from one
plant adapts its orientation to match that of the new mother plant, also known as
the rootstock.

7. In relation to crop protection, what is the distinct advantage of tissue culture over
other methods of asexual propagation?
 The plant is grown in a controlled and favorable environment, which is a
distinct advantage when compared to other methods of asexual propagation.
Consequently, asexual propagation is more prone to the development of
infections and diseases than tissue culture. Hence, tissue culture offers more
benefits than the various other methods of asexual propagation.

REFERENCES
Coronel, R.E. Promising Fruits of the Philippines. 1983. College of Agriculture,
College,Laguna.
Gradner. R.J.S., S.A. Chaudri, and Staff of the commonwealth Bureau of Horticulture
and Plantation Crops. 1976. The propagation of Tropical Frutis Trees. Hortic.Rev. 4.
Common.Bur. Hortic.Plant Crops 566p.
Hartmann.H.T. and D.E. Kester. 1989. Plant Propagation Principles and Practice.
Prentice-Hall, Inc. 662 p.