Asexual Reproduction in Plants

Monday, September 6, 2010

Flowering plants have either male and/or female parts, or it could reproduce asexually.

There are two main methods of asexual reproduction: vegetative reproduction and artificial propagation.

Vegetative Reproduction

This involves the production of new plants from a part of the old, parent plant.

It involves storage organs such as bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes.

They enable plants to grow year after year (perennating organs).

They also serve as a food source for man.

Storage organ	Examples/Food
Fig 1: Tuber (underground stem)	Potato/Starch, vitamin C, water
Fig 2: Rhizome (underground stem)	Ginger/Starch
Fig 3: Bulb (underground shoot)	Onion/Glucose, water (in leaves)
Fig 4: Corm (underground shoot)	Water chestnut/Glucose, Water (in stems)

> Fig 1

> Fig 2

> Fig 3

> Fig 4

Is vegetative reproduction beneficial after all? Does it carry more pros than cons?

Let's investigate!

Advantages	Disadvantages
Identical daughter plants within a short period of time	Identical daughter plants lack in genetic variation
Daughter plants can be selected for desirable characteristics	Characteristics are similar to parents. If environment changes and parents are not able to adapt, daughter plants will also not adapt
Food supply not a problem as daughter plants dependent on parent plant	Competition for space, and food, because of proximity of plants
Not dependent on pollinators for reproduction	-
Conditions for reproduction are favourable	-

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Do you know?

A plantation of bamboo was cultivated as a crop plant. When one plant starts to flower, all the others will do so as well. In Bamboo plants, flowering marks the end of its cycle. Hence the entire plantation of bamboo was lost!

planting,
3:12 AM