The Canon of Potato Science: 26. In Vivo Cuttings

Abstract

Cuttings are pieces of plant material usually taken from plants for further multiplication. In potato, they generally consist of a part of the stem or sprout, containing at least one bud and often the accompanying leaf. The cuttings are rooted, the buds develop into new shoots, and the resulting plantlets are transplanted into the field or glasshouse for tuber production and/or continued production of cuttings. In other plant species cuttings may also consist of plant parts without existing buds, e.g., leaf or storage root parts. However, the use of (pre)differentiated or predestined buds for further multiplication reduces the chance of genetic drift (i.e. the chance of obtaining genetically aberrant individuals). The potato plant is very versatile, and its buds can develop into several types of modified stems: sprouts, shoots, stolons and tubers. On the other hand, buds from very different structures, such as stems, stolons, tubers, or inflorescences can produce tubers. Whether there is development of a structure and which structure develops from the buds of cuttings depends on the history of the plant from which the cutting is taken and the history of the bud itself, but also on the conditions under which plant and bud were produced, the prevailing external conditions after taking the cutting, the genotype and the type of cutting taken. When the degree of tuber induction of a mother plant increases, buds develop more frequently into stolons and then into tubers instead of into shoots. This varying response in bud outgrowth of cuttings is not only used for vegetative multiplication, but also in physiological studies to increase our knowledge on stolon and tuber formation, and as a selection tool in breeding. We describe here six types of cuttings: apical cuttings, stem cuttings, single-node cuttings, leaf-bud cuttings, sprout cuttings and multiple-node cuttings, and their use. Potato Research (2007) 50:309–313 DOI 10.1007/s11540-008-9084-3