- Production of haploid plants (Haploid plant lines): Haploid plants are produced by pollen culture. Adaptation, yield, maturity, disease resistance etc. are improved in haploid plants. Haploid plants such as rice Tangfeng-1, Huabe-702, wheat Jinakhua-1, Longhua-1, tobacco F-211, Tangyu-1, Tangyu-2, Tangyu-3 etc.
- More plants production
(i) Tissue culture process is the production of new plants from plant parts like roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, pollinators etc.
(ii) Tissue culture process produces more seedlings in a shorter time in any season.
(iii) Producing seedlings of extinct plants and plants which do not produce seeds by tissue culture process.
(iv) This process can produce seedlings commercially at low cost. Produced seedlings are being delivered to different parts of the country.
- Conservation of endangered plants: All plants that are endangered can be saved from extinction. New seedlings are created from any part of these plants and are being sustained in the world. As a result, there is no possibility of these plants disappearing from the earth. For example – Psilotum.
- Contribution of agriculture
(i) Cure plant production: The tissue at the apex of the plant is called meristem. The meristem is always sterile. Germ-free new seedlings are created by meristem culture through tissue culture technology. These germ-free plants do not get diseased. No need to apply pesticides and fungicides to plants. As a result, production costs are reduced and environmental pollution is prevented. In 1952, Morrell and Martin were the first to produce germ-free seedlings by culturing dahlia plant meristems. Currently, pineapple and tomato seedlings have been produced using this method.
(ii) Micropropagation: Micropropagation is the production of more seedlings in a short time keeping the maternal qualities intact. Micropropagation is done in plants that do not produce seeds or organs. Flowers by micropropagation – Lilium, Tulipa, Anthurium; Vegetables and spices – Allium, Apium, Brassica; Fruits and Nuts- Aegle, Ananus, Carica; Forest trees – Albizzia, Dalbergia, Pinus etc. have been established. In 1958 F. C. Steward discovered micropropagation.
(iii) Somatic embryogenesis: The process of tissue culture in which embryos and seedlings are produced from plant cells is called somatic embryogenesis. In 1958 American plant scientist F. C. Steward and his colleagues discovered the somatic embryogenesis method and produced carrot seedlings using this method.
(iv) Embryo culture: The process of producing seedlings from mature or immature embryos in tissue culture is called embryo culture. Embryo culture is used to break seed dormancy or to produce fertile plants. Papaya, brinjal and bell seedlings have been produced in this method.
(v) Somatic hybridization: The process of creating a hybrid plant by the union of protoplasts of two plant cells of the same species or different species is called somatic hybridization or somatic fusion. The cells created in this process are called cybrid. The two cells that form the cybrid are called heterokaryons. Cybrids contain a combination of heterozygous mitochondria and chloroplasts with advanced characteristics. Cybrids have been created in plants like potato, tomato, petunia, lemon, tobacco etc. Pomato was created by the union of protoplasts of potato and tomato plants. Numerous seedlings are produced from cybrids. Carlson introduced the somatic hybridization method in 1972.
(vi) In-vitro selection (In-vitro selection): In-vitro selection is the process of creating stress-tolerant varieties by applying specific stress or pressure to a plant in cultivation. In this process plants or cells with a specific stress tolerant trait are selected and multiplied. Virus resistant potato, rice, wheat, banana etc. have been developed by this method.
(vii) Pollen culture: The process of creating haploid plants from stamen pollen in tissue culture is called anther culture. This method produces androgenic haploid seedlings and homozygous breeding lines. For example, Guan rice-18 and Xinghua wheat-1.
(viii) Somaclonal variation: The variation or breed produced from a plant cell or tissue is called Somaclonal variation or Somaclonal variation. Clonal variation arising from vegetative gametes is called gametoclonal variation. In tissue culture technology, superior and superior clones are selected by creating somaclonal variation. Numerous new cultivars were then created from the clones. Somaclonal variation has led to the creation of economically important plant cultivars, disease resistant varieties, pesticide resistant plants, drought resistant plants and herbicide resistant plants. Improved varieties of wheat produced through semiclonal variation are AdhI.
(ix) Creation of transgenic plants: Genes which are transferred into the body of an organism through genetic engineering are called transgenes. The organism in which the transgene is transferred and the trait is expressed is called a transgenic organism. New seedlings are created from transgenic plants in the tissue culture process.