Artificial Seed Technology

Abstract

Artificial seeds are produced by encapsulating somatic embryos, shoot tips, or any other micropropagule which have the ability to convert into a plant in vitro or ex vitro. The need of artificial seed production was felt due to failed seed propagation in some crop species due to very small seed size, seed heterozygosity, reduced endosperm, no germination in the absence of seed–mycorrhizal association as in case of orchids and also time-consuming vegetative means of propagation in some seedless varieties of crops such as Citrullus lanatus and vitis vinifera, etc. Effective seed coating of micropropagules is done using different gelling agents such as alginate, agar, carrageenan, gellan gum, sodium pectate and carboxy methyl cellulose. However, sodium alginate has been documented as most frequently used gelling agent. The absence of seed coat and endosperm in somatic embryos necessitates the encapsulation matrix to be supplemented with nutrients and growth regulators such as 0.5 mg/L indoleacetic acid (IAA), 0.5 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 2 mg/L 6-benzyl aminopurine (BA), 2 mg/L Fe-EDTA and 30 g/L sucrose. In many plant species such as Allium sativum, Ananas comosus, Dioscorea bulbifera, Cineraria maritima, Cucumis sativus, etc. genetic stability of the plants derived from artificial seeds has also been examined with the help of biochemical and molecular markers and found them genetically consistent.