Propagation of Fruit, Nut, and Vegetable Crops — Overview

Abstract

In April, 1980, a conference on nursery production of fruit plants through tissue culture was held at Beltsville to stimulate interest among U.S. nurserymen in the potential of micropropagation for temperate tree and small fruit crops (48). At that time, use of tissue culture for propagation of fruit crops was well under way and expanding rapidly in Europe but was used very little in North America. In the succeeding five and one-half years, micropropagation of these crops has increased significantly throughout the world, both in terms of crops being propagated and in total number of plants produced. Micropropagation methods are now employed for a number of vegetable crops as well, while production of ornamental plants using this technology continues to expand and remains the largest segment of this young industry.