Jain Biology: Propagation By Cutting

Many plants of horticulture interest are now propagated' commercially by means of cuttings, since it is the easiest and most convenient method of asexual propagation. A cutting is a part of a plant which will produce roots and, eventually, a new plant quite true to the parent plant. It may be a piece of stem (stem cutting), a leaf or part of a leaf, a piece of root (root cutting) or even a scale of a bulb. Stem cuttings are the most widely used. They are classified as: cuttings which require leaves and cuttings which do not require leaves at the time they are severed from the parent plant. Thus cutting may be classified as under:

1. Stem cuttings: Herbaceous cuttings usually consist of the terminal leafy portion of stems of herbaceous plants.

   Softwood cuttings are usually with some leaves.

   Semi-hardwood are usually taken from growing terminal shoots. Hardwood cuttings are made from past season's growth or wood that has become mature.

2. Root cutting: Root cutting, being very easy and supple, is customary in many plants like apple pear cherry etc. Adventitious roots are regenerated and the adventive shoots develop at the proximal end of the root.
3. Leaf cutting: Certain plants with thick and fleshy leaves can reproduce themselves from leaf cuttings. Many ornamental plants are propagated by leaf cutting regardless of whether a root develops from a stem, a leaf or from another root, it develops inside the parent structures. Cells of the parent tissues produce the root promordium, which later on develop into a root. In general, the thin-walled active and living cells - parehchymatus cells—have the most potentiality to give rise to adventitious roots.