CS 32.Lecture 7B.

Asexual
Reproduction and propagation

Cleofe T. Apiag
 What is asexual propagation?
• The vegetative method of propagation
involves the use of vegetative parts of the
plant,like roots, stems, and leaves, to
increase the number of plants of the same
kind.
• no union of the male and female gametes is
involved
 Classification of Vegetative parts
1. those severed from the mother plant
2. those still attached to the mother plant
3. those attached or united to another rooted
plant
 Why use asexual propagation?
• Uniformity
• Propagate non-seed producing plants
• Avoid seedborne diseases
• To create insect or disease resistant plants
• To incorporate environmental tolerances
• To reproduce and retain the genetic traits of a hybrid
• Control size and form of a plant
• Can be faster and easier, cheaper
 Disadvantages of asexual
propagation
• Uniformity
• Short storage time
• Bulky
• Systemic infections can be spread
 Types of asexual propagation
• Specialized parts
• Cuttings
• Layering
• Grafting
• Tissue culture
 Specialized plant parts
• Offshoots
• Separation
• Division
Division- is a method of asexual propagation
wherein specialized or modified stems and roots
are cut into pieces or sections with at least one bud
or eye per section
Division - rhizomes
Division of
rhizomes
Division
Division
Division – fleshy roots
Division – tuberous roots
 Separation- is propagation using
naturally detachable organs.
• Bulbs
• Corms
Separation – bulbs
Separation – bulbs
 Separation - bulbs
• Amaryllis (a tunicate bulb)
Scooping bulbs
Separation – scaly bulbs
Separation - corms
 Cuttage or use of Cuttings - is the method of
vegetative propagation involving regeneration of
structural parts in detached vegetative parts under
favorable environmental conditions.

• Herbaceous
• Woody plants
– Softwood
– Semi-hardwood (ripe)
– Hardwood
 Cuttings

• Herbaceous
– Stem
– Stem tip
– Leaf bud
– Leaf
Leaf cuttings
Whole leaf cuttings
Leaf cuttings

Keep moist at all times

Leaf cuttings
Cuttings from variegated plants
Roots tend to develop at nodes
 Cuttings
• Softwood – cuttings from
soft, succulent, new flush of
growth of woody plants
• Semi-hardwood (ripe) –
partially mature cuttings
• Hardwood – cuttings from
mature wood from one-or
few-year old stems
• herbaceous cuttings -
cuttings from herbaceous
plants.
 Schematic drawing showing shoots as cutting
source and cutting the right single node cuttings

Remove the leaves from the lower one-third to onehalf of the cutting . On large-leafed
plants, the remaining leaves may be cut in half to reduce water loss and conserve space.
Wounds maybe created at the base of cuttings of difficult to root species
Semi-hardwood (ripe) cuttings
Semi-ripe: Leaf-bud cuttings
 Cutting principles
• Age of material
• Correct seasonal timing
• Sterile rooting medium, sanitation
• High humidity
• No direct sun
• Shoots without flowers or flower buds
• Node near base of cutting
• Rooting hormones
• Basal wounding of woody cuttings
• Remove leaves in contact with rooting medium
God and plant propagation
• " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD
says: I myself will take a shoot from
the very top of a cedar and plant it; I
will break off a tender sprig from its
topmost shoots and plant it on a high
and lofty mountain. 23 On the
mountain heights of Israel I will plant
it; it will produce branches and bear
fruit and become a splendid cedar.”
(Ezekiel 17)
Runners- are slender specialized aerial stems that grow
horizontally along the ground and develop from the leaf
axila at the base or crown of the plant.
Layering is a means of plant propagation in which a
portion of an aerial stem grows roots while still
attached to the parent plant and then detaches as an
independent plant.
 Types of layering

• Simple layering
• Tip layering
• Compound layering
• Mound layering
• Trench layering
• Air layering
 Simple layering
• Branches or long shoots near the base of the
plant are bent toward the ground, and the stem
portion where roots are desired is covered with
soil.
 Tip layering
• Limited to brambles are wild prickly bushes
Rooting layers
Compound (serpentine) layering
• Use with flexible vines
Mound layering
• Used for rootstock
production in nursery trees
Trench layering
Air layering
• Developed by Chinese
Air layering
Grafting- is the general term used for propagation
methods whereby two plant parts are joined in such a
mannert at they will unite their growth as one.
- the scion is a stem, whether detached or still
attached to mother plant.
 Grafting principles
• Contact between
vascular cambium of
scion and rootstock
 Grafting principles
• Taxonomic compatibility
• Timing of graft (dormant scion)
• Waterproof graft junction
• Rootstock diameter > scion diameter
 Whip or Tongue grafting
• Most common grafting method
 Grafting over
• Adding a cultivar to an established fruit tree
– Replace the existing cultivar
– Add a new pollinator
– Try a new cultivar
• Top-working
• Frame-working
Bark grafting (Rind graft)
Cleft grafting

Topworking
Side grafting
Approach grafting
• Use when detached scion not possible
Flat grafting cacti
Budding-a method in which the scion is a single
bud with a small secton of the bark, with or with
out wood
• Scion is a bud
• Used to propagate fruit trees, roses
Shield or T-budding- usually made o an
actively developing stem whose bark can
be readily separated from the wood.
Chip budding is used when the bark of the stem
adheres closely to its wood which may occur
naturally to some
Patch budding- is used in species having a thick
bark which can be separated easily from the wood.
Inarching to repair damage
 Reference
• http://www.agri.ankara.edu.tr/fcrops/1289_PlntBr
eedMethods.pdf.
• Bautista, O.k. 1994. Introduction to Tropical
Horticulture . 2nd ed. SEAMEO. Reg'l. Center for
Graduate Sudy and Research in Agriculture.
UPLB. 597 pp.
•