Vegetative parts and example

Vegetative parts Example

Roots Sweet potato, carrot

Stems 1. Underground stems: - Potato, ginger2. Stems that run horizontally, or runners: - water lettuce, carpet grass3. Modified stem, or bulb: - onion, hyacinth bulb

Leaves Bryophyllum, begonia

RhizomeStem that grows horizontally under the ground; rhizome contains stored food.Eg: Lalang, tumeric, ginger

LeafA small bud is produced at the part of a leaf that is able to develop into a new plant.Eg: Bryopyllum, begonia, aloe vera

TuberUnderground stem with a swollen end; tuber contains food.Eg: Potato, dahlia

StemSome plants reproduce through the stem that has several buds.Eg: Tapioca, sugar cane, rose plant

RunnerStem that creeps on the surface of the ground; nodes on the stem will produce buds.Eg: Grass, sweet potato

BulbConsists the layer of swollen fleshy leaves; a bud grows to become a new plant.Eg: onion, lily plant

CormA swollen stem with buds that grow upright under the ground.Eg: Yam

SuckerA young plant grows from a short stem in the ground.Eg: Banana tree, bamboo tree

Advantages1. Pollination do not required2. New plants are identical to the parent3. Plants that are reproduce vegetatively are grow faster

Disadvantages1. No variation2. new plants have lower resistance to weather and diseases3. Unwanted characteristics will be passed down to the new

plant

Application of Research on Vegetative Reproduction in Agriculture

Biotechnology is defined as the application of organisms or their components in industrial or commercial processes.

Research in vegetative reproduction is one aspect of biotechnology.

Agriculturalists have developed some methods of vegetative reproduction which are now widely used in nurseries.

Methods of Vegatative Reproductive

(a) Stem-cuttingIn stem-cutting, a new plant is

produced by cutting off a portion of the stem of a plant of good quality and planting it in soil

Stem-cutting

(b) Tissue CultureCloning involves the growth of cells

of a plant in a nutrient medium. Some pieces of tissue or a few cells

are removed from the parent plant of good quality and transferred to a medium containing nutrients.

These nutrients make the cells or tissue divide and grow into new plants

Producing hundreds of identical new plants all with the good characteristics of the parent.

Tissue culture