Growth in plants

 Growth is the process of increasing in

size in plants takes place at the tips of
shoots and roots.

 Just behind the tips of roots and

shoots are regions of rapid cell
division.

 The new cells grow resulting in the

lengthening of roots into the soil and
shoots into the air.
Growth in plants
 Vegetative Propagation
 Asexual reproduction in plants is
also vegetative propagation.

 Many plants as well as being able

to produce seeds are able to
reproduce naturally by vegetative
propagation.
 Examples of Vegetative Propagation
 Strawberries send out special stems called
runners that spread over the ground. New
strawberry plants grow at the tips of these
stems.

 Some stems of the potato plant grow

underground and become swollen with stored
food. The swelling is a potato or tuber. If a tuber
is planted, new plants grow from buds—the
'eyes'.

 Bulbs such as the onions are large underground

buds with swollen leaves full of food. Each year
new bulbs grow inside the old one.
 Use of Cutting for Vegetative
Propagation
 Humans have grown
plants asexually for
hundreds of years by
cutting pieces off plants
they like and growing
them into new
plants.This process is
known as propagation.
The new plants are
called cuttings.
 Examples of Cuttings
 This geranium cutting was cut from
the stem of a larger plant.

 Some plants can be grown from leaf

cuttings.

 Apple tree 'cuttings' grow by being

grafted onto the stern of a healthy
plant
 Did you know?

 Vegetative propagation is an
example of cloning.

 Today, cloning is a 'high tech'

business.

 A lot of commercial plant growers

use this technique to produce large
numbers of plants in a short period
of time
 Test Your Self

1 What is vegetative propagation?

2 Where does growth in plants take place?

3 What is:
a) a runner b) a tuber c) a bulb?

4 a) what is a cutting?

b) Where are cuttings taken from?

1.Another name for asexual reproduction in plants.

2. At the tips of roots and shoots.

3. a) Runners are special stems that spread over the

ground. New plants grow from them.
b) A tuber is an underground stem that becomes swollen
with stored food.
c) A bulb is a large underground bud with swollen leaves
full of food.

4. a) A cutting is a piece taken from a living plant

b) Cuttings are usually taken from a stem. But may be

taken from leaves or roots.
Vegetative propagation
It is an asexual method of plant reproduction that occurs in its leaves, roots and
stem. This can occur through fragmentation and regeneration of specific
vegetative parts of plants.

Types of Vegetative Propagation

Different types of vegetative propagation include:

Natural Vegetative Propagation

This occurs when plants grow and develop naturally without any human
interference. Natural vegetative propagation can be enabled by the
development of adventitious roots. Thus, new plants may emerge from the
roots, stem and leaves of the parent plant.

Artificial Vegetative Propagation

This is a type of vegetative reproduction carried out by humans on the fields
and laboratories.
The vegetative plant structures arising from the stem are known as rhizomes,
bulbs, runners, tubers, etc. The plants propagated vegetatively are
• Stem
Runners grow horizontally above the ground. The buds are formed at the nodes
of the runners.

• Roots
New plants emerge out of swollen, modified roots known as tubers. Buds are
formed at the base of the stem.

• Leaves
Leaves of a few plants get detached from the parent plant and develop into a
new plant.

• Bulbs
Bulbs have an underground stem to which the leaves are attached. These leaves
are capable of storing food. The centre of the bulb contains an apical bud that
produces leaves and flowers. Shoots are developed from the lateral buds
The most common types of vegetative reproduction occurring artificially
include:
• Cutting
In this, a part of a plant, specifically a stem or leaf is cut and planted in the soil.
These cuttings are sometimes treated with hormones to induce root
development. The new plant is formed from the adventitious roots developing
from the cutting.
• Grafting
In this, the cutting from some other plant is attached to the stem of plant rooted
in the ground. The tissues of the graft become integrated with the tissues of the
rooted plant and develop as a single plant over time.
• Layering
In this, the stem of the plant is bent to the ground and covered with soil.
Adventitious roots emerge from the plant parts covered with the soil. This
attached stem with developing roots is known as a layer.
• Tissue Culture (cloning)
In this, the plant cells from different parts of a plant are cultured in the
laboratory to develop a new plant. This technique is helpful in increasing the
number of rare and endangered plant species that are unable to grow under
natural conditions.
Micropropagation
Micropropagation refers to the in lab multiplication and/or regeneration of plant
material under aseptic and controlled environmental conditions to produce thousands
or millions of plants for transfer to the field.
Tissue culture
Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells in an artificial medium separate from the
parent organism. This technique is also called micropropagation. This is typically
facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Tissue Culture can require more
• The new plantlets can be grown in a short amount of labor and cost more money.
time.
• There is a chance that the
• Only a small amount of initial plant tissue is required.
propagated plants will be less
• The new plantlets and plants are more likely to be resilient to diseases due to the type
free of viruses and diseases.
of environment they are grown in.
• The process is not dependant on the seasons and can
be done throughout the year. • It is imperative that, before being
• You need only a relatively small space to perform the cultured, the material is screened;
process (ten times the plants in one-tenth of the failure to pick up any abnormalities
space). could lead to the new plants being
• On a larger scale, the tissue culture process helps to infected.
supply the consumer market with new subspecies and •
variety.
While the success rate is high if the
correct procedures are followed,
• People looking to cultivate challenging plants such as
specific breeds of orchid find more success with the
success with the tissue culture is
tissue culture process than traditional soil. not a guarantee. There is still a
chance that the process triggers a
secondary metabolic chemical
reaction, and the new explants or
cells' growth gets stunted, or even
die off.
Bacteria reproduce by binary
fission. In this process the
bacterium, which is a single
cell, divides into two identical
daughter cells. Binary fission
begins when the DNA of the
bacterium divides into two
(replicates)
Each daughter cell is a clone of
the parent cell.