Propagation, the controlled perpetuation of plants, is the most basic of horticultural practices. Its two objectives are to achieve an increase in numbers and to preserve the essential characteristics of the plant. Propagation can be achieved sexually by seed or asexually by utilizing specialized vegetative structures of the plant (tubers and corms) or by employing such techniques as cutting, layering, grafting, and tissue culture. (A detailed discussion of the methods of controlling sexual propagation can be found in the article plant breeding.)
Seed propagation
The most common method of propagation for self-pollinated plants is by seed. In self-pollinated plants, the sperm nuclei in pollen produced by a flower fertilize egg cells of a flower on the same plant. Propagation by seed is also used widely for many cross-pollinated plants (those whose pollen is carried from one plant to another). Seed is usually the least expensive and often the only means of propagation and offers a convenient way to store plants over long periods of time. Seed kept dry and cool normally maintains its viability from harvest to the next planting season. Some can be stored for years under suitable conditions. Seed propagation also makes it possible to start plants free of most diseases. This is especially true with respect to virus diseases, because it is almost impossible to free plants of virus infections and because most virus diseases are not transmitted by seed. There are two disadvantages to seed propagation. First, genetic variation occurs in seed from cross-pollinated plants because they are heterozygous. This means that the plant grown from seed may not exactly duplicate the characteristics of its parents and may possess undesirable characteristics. Second, some plants take a long time to grow from seed to maturity. Potatoes, for example, do not breed true from seed and do not produce large tubers the first year. These disadvantages are overcome by vegetative propagation.
The practice of saving seed to plant the following year has developed into a specialized part of horticulture. Seed technology involves all of the steps necessary to ensure production of seed with high viability, freedom from disease, purity, and trueness to type. These processes may include specialized growing and harvesting techniques, cleaning, and distribution.
Relatively little tree and shrub seed is grown commercially; it is generally harvested from natural stands or grown from cuttings. Rootstock seed for fruit trees is often obtained as a by-product in fruit-processing industries. Seed growing and plant improvement are related activities. Thus, many seed-producing firms actively engage in plant-breeding programs to accomplish genetic improvement of their material.
Harvesting of dry seed is accomplished by threshing. Seed from fleshy fruits is recovered through fermentation of the macerated (softened by soaking) pulp or directly from screening. Machines have been developed to separate and clean seed, based on size, specific gravity, and surface characteristics. Extended storage of seed requires low humidity and cool temperature.
Trade in seed requires quality control. For example, U.S. government seed laws require detailed labeling showing germination percentage, mechanical purity, amount of seed, origin, and moisture content. Seed testing is thus an important part of the seed industry.
While most vegetable seed germinates readily upon exposure to normally favourable environmental conditions, many seed plants that are vegetatively (asexually) propagated fail to germinate readily because of physical or physiologically imposed dormancy. Physical dormancy is due to structural limitations to germination such as hard impervious seed coats. Under natural conditions weathering for a number of years weakens the seed coat. Certain seeds, such as the sweet pea, have a tough husk that can be artificially worn or weakened to render the seed coat permeable to gases and water by a process known as scarification. This is accomplished by a number of methods including abrasive action, soaking in hot water, or acid treatment. Physiologically imposed dormancy involves the presence of germination inhibitors. Germination in such seed may be accomplished by treatment to remove these inhibitors. This may involve cold stratification, storing seed at high relative humidity and low temperatures, usually slightly above freezing. Cold stratification is a prerequisite to the uniform germination of many temperate-zone species such as apple, pear, and redbud.
Vegetative propagation
Asexual or vegetative reproduction is based on the ability of plants to regenerate tissues and parts. In many plants vegetative propagation is a completely natural process; in others it is an artificial one. Vegetative propagation has many advantages. These include the unchanged perpetuation of naturally cross-pollinated or heterozygous plants and the possibility of propagating seedless progeny. This means that a superior plant may be reproduced endlessly without variation. In addition, vegetative propagation may be easier and faster than seed propagation, because seed dormancy problems are eliminated and the juvenile nonflowering stage of some seed-propagated plants is eliminated or reduced. However, vegetative propagation can result in horticultural plants that are exact genetic clones to one another, making them identically susceptible to diseases.
Vegetative propagation is accomplished by use of (1) apomictic seed, (2) specialized vegetative structures such as runners, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, offshoots, tubers, stems, and roots, (3) layers and cuttings, (4) grafting and budding, and (5) tissue culture.
Apomixis
Apomixis, the development of asexual seed (seed not formed via the normal sexual process), is a form of vegetative propagation for some horticultural plants including Kentucky bluegrass, mango, and citrus. Virus-free progeny can be produced in oranges from a seed that is formed from the nucellus, a maternal tissue.