Through micropropagation, it is now possible to provide clean and uniform planting materials in
plantations for several plant species such as oil palm, plantain, pine, banana, abaca, date, rubber
tree; field crops –eggplant, jojoba, pineapple, tomato; root crops –cassava, yam, sweet potato; and
many ornamental plants such as orchids and anthuriums (Alfonso, A. 2007; Singh et al. 2011).
Bioreactor cultures are being established in several commercial laboratories for micropropagation
of
ferns, spathiphylum, philodendron, banana, potato, lilies, poinsettia, sugar-cane, and some forest tree
species such as eucalyptus, poplar, and early stages of conifer somatic embryos (Aitkin-Christie, 1991;
Mehrotra et al 2007;Gross and Levin, 1999; Cervelli and Senaratna 1995).And plant products,
pharmaceuticals, food ingredients and cosmetics(Perulllini et al., 2007; Vongpaseuth and Roberts
2007; Pavlov et al. 2007)
Micrografted seedlings are commercialised to avoid the serious crop loss caused by infection of soil-
borne diseases for fruit trees and several vegetables(Navarro et al., 1975;Navarro 1981;Jung-
Myung Lee et al. 2010).
Transverse thin layer section technology may be ideal for large scale micropropagation of
ornamental plants(Jain et al. 1998).
Photoautotrophic flow-through systems for enhanced micropropagationfor Gerbera; Hypericum,
Myrtus communis, Momordica grosvenori, Eucalyptus (Nguyen and Kozai 2005; Xiao et al.2011)
The development of transgenic methods and the growth of agricultural biotechnology started
during the 1980s and the global biotech crophas increased hundred million of hectares area
Palmer et al. 2005; Thomas et al. 2003
Efficient doubled haploid technology enables breeders to reduce the time and the cost of new
cultivar development relative to conventional breeding practices.
APPLICATIONS OF MICROPROPAGATION