Exploring Old Technique Helps Grow Healthier Plants
Tissue culture techniques aid plant propagation and tissue and cell studies
By Dr. Toktam Taghavi, Assistant Professor/Plant Scientist
Researchers at Virginia State University’s (VSU) Agricultural Research Station (ARS) are studying tissue culture techniques that can help nurseries and growers increase revenue by producing large quantities of plants in a relatively short period of time.
Micropropagation is the process of mass producing genetically identical offspring from a single parent plant using tissue culture techniques. The process has been around since the late 1900s, and its use today is changing how food is grown, making it easier to grow high-yielding, clean plant material.
“This method of plant propagating involves growing plants, often in mass, using tissues from a parent plant (i.e. shoot or root),” said Dr. Toktam Taghavi, a plant scientist with ARS. “Micropropagation creates a uniform plant material for different research purposes.”
Taghavi recently began exploring tissue culture of turmeric, ginger and strawberries in a team effort to study the cell structure and function during storage. However, the method can also be used to propagate clean plant material suitable for mass propagation by nurseries and growers.
Nurseries, growers or breeders may have different purposes for needing micropropagated plants, but often this method of growing plants can help ensure not only the quality of the plants grown or sold are consistent, but also the produce from those plants are clean (free from microorganisms) and have high quality.
While studying strawberries, grown over the last two years at VSU’s Randolph Farm, Taghvi noticed that strawberry plants purchased from a qualified nursery during the first year of the study grew well. But plants purchased from the same nursery the following year were carrying diseases. In order to further the research, she decided to micropropagate new clean plant material. Taghavi took tissue samples and began growing them in a sterile environment in her lab to ensure the specimens are uniform and clean and to ensure the success of the new plantations.
“We were successful in getting tissue-cultured plants,” Taghavi said. “We need to identify microorganisms that may still be inside the plant tissue that are not visible to naked eyes.”
The tissue culture project is not only necessary for her research, but also a way to train students and technicians in plant science.
This method of producing plants from plant tissues is quite common. “For many plants and vegetables, there are no seeds,” Taghavi said. “And often, if you start plants from seed, there is a genetic variation among them, so the seedling is not similar to the parent plant. That’s not what you want. On a farm, you want a uniform population of plants because if they are different, the production practices and quality of the produce you get will be different.”
Dr. Taghavi is conducting the research in collaboration with Dr. Reza Rafie, a Virginia Cooperative Extension horticulture specialist at VSU, who is an expert on specialty crops, like ginger and turmeric.
Vegetative propagation is often used because of a lack of seeds or a lack of genetically uniform seeds, which is the reason that many fruits and vegetables are not produced by seed, Taghavi added. “Like with humans, every one of us is different, that’s the same case with plants that come from the seed. Every one of them is different.”
Once plants are successfully propagated through tissue culture and grown into uniform seedlings, nurseries and growers can acclimatize the young plants to outdoor environments, plant them or sell them commercially. Humid chambers with controlled environments are needed to acclimatize the tissue-cultured plants to outdoor environments. During acclimatization, humidity should decrease and light intensity should increase gradually to adapt the in-vitro plants to the outdoor environment.
Taghavi is also working on a study to extend the shelf life of strawberries, and micropropagation is critical to that research. This technique will allow her to control what specific varieties are grown for the study and ensure the plants are clean with high quality.
Nurseries, growers and breeders interested in learning more about tissue-cultured plants or partnering with VSU can contact Dr. Taghavi at ttaghavi@vsu.edu.
Connection is published by Virginia State University’s College of Agriculture. Special thanks to everyone who contributed content, photos, ideas and time to this edition.
Executive Editor: Michelle Olgers; Writer/Editor: Lorraine Blackwell; Art Direction, Graphic Design: Brittany R. Hughes
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©2020 Virginia State University College of Agriculture
Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, Dean/1890 Extension Administrator; Dr. Wondi Mersie, Associate Dean/Director of Research; Dr. Janine P. Woods, Associate Administrator VSU Virginia Cooperative Extension; Dr. Michelle Corley, Interim Chair, Associate Professor Department of Agriculture; Dr. Crystal Wynn, Chair and Associate Professor Department of Family and Consumer Sciences; Dr. Berkita Bradford, Chair and Associate Professor Department of Hospitality Management
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