Vegetative reproduction is a method wherein new plants are produced by vegatative parts of a plant called propagules. The vegetative parts mean the leaf, stem and root.
Importance of vegetative reproduction:
1. Vegetative reproduction is the only method to maintain and multiply the desired varieties at commercial level, of those plants which are naturally non-seed-producing that is seeds are not produced in them. For example banana, sugarcane, rose etc. and seedless varieties of grapes and orange etc.
2. Sufficient time is required in the production of flowers in those plants which are produced by the germination of seeds. Further the development of a plant from seeds is not always definite. On the contrary the development of a plant by vegetative propagation is definite and the time required for flowering and fruiting is very small.
3. The new plants produced by vegetative propagation are exactly similar in characters to that of mother plant. Thereby the desired characters are maintained true generation after generation. However, the plants produced from seeds often become inferior in characters as compared to the parent plants.
4. The production is high in the plants produced by vegetative propagation.
