Grafting
A cutting from a plant is grafted (attached) on to the stem of another plant. The cut surfaces of the two plants grow together. A plant variety that grows poorly but produces desirable products such as edible fruit can be grafted onto the stem of a plant that grows well and has characteristics such as disease resistance.
The processes involved in cleft grafting
Plants that are produced by artificial propagation are genetically identical to each other and to the parent. A group like this is called a clone.
Advantages for the plant of carrying out asexual reproduction:
- Only one parent plant is required.
- New plants are genetically identical to the parent, so characteristics that make the plant well adapted to its environment will always be passed on.
Advantage for plants of carrying out sexual reproduction:
- The combination of genes from the parent plants introduces variation. This increases the chance that some offspring plants will be adapted to survive environmental changes such as new diseases, pest insects or climate change.
