In vitro approaches for the improvement of eucalyptus

Abstract

Eucalyptus is an economically important hardwood tree. The ever-increasing demand for Eucalyptus wood for industrial uses has necessitated better and faster methods of propagation of genetically superior trees with better qualities. Micropropagation has been considered as a potential method for the mass propagation of mature, difficult-to-propagate/difficult-to-root trees and natural hybrids resulting in the production of quality propagules for plantation forestry, afforestation programmes, etc. In vitro culture of Eucalyptus dates back to the 1960s with successful culture of juvenile tissue and eventually with mature tree-derived explants in the last few decades. Although mass propagation through axillary meristem proliferation has witnessed the success, the full potential of organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis is yet to be realized. These modes will have the wider application like cryopreservation, synseed development, somaclonal variation and genetic transformation. Clonal propagation of Eucalyptus is a commercial reality being practiced for large-scale multiplication of identified, superior clones and their field planting. The great potential of micropropagation for large-scale plant multiplication can be tapped by cutting down the cost of production per plant by reducing the unit cost of micropropagule and plant production without compromising the quality. With the ever increased rate in which the forest cover is getting disappeared from the earth, it is an urgent call to restore at least a few percentage of the lost plantation to avoid severe climatic changes.