Advantages of tissue culture

Most countries have strict regulations on what you can take in with you, and plants or plant materials are one of the big ‘declarables’, on top the list. Simply put, most countries simply do not allow plants to cross borders mainly because of the soil borne bacteria that could cause severe infestations.

Tissue culture plants overcome these barriers as they have had no prior contact with soil, and can be transported at the ex-agar stage or in sterile flasks. This enables plant aficionados to avail of plants from all over the world, without quarantine restrictions.

The best example of tissue culture overcoming quarantine barriers and government hold-backs is that of the Australian grass trees, Xanthorrhoea glauca and Xanthorrhoea preissii that have been declared endangered by the Australian government. Propagation of grass tree from seed is an incredibly long process, and most grass trees would be attained by uprooting from their natural habitat and exporting. The threat of extinction saw their export being banned by the Australian government. So the only way for International plant lovers to avail of the exotic and rare Australian grass tree is importing it as a tissue culture plant. Currently only one tissue culture facility in Australia, Plant Biotech has procured a propagation permit from the state government and special permit from the federal government, to propagate grass tree by tissue culture, and export them.

Plants that otherwise have a very small chance of propagating, or would take very long to germinate from seeds (some bromeliad seeds could take up to a year to just germinate) can be easily propagated, and the required size and numbers can be obtained within a short period of time.
Also consider plant breeders who have created exotic hybrids and want them propagated. Conventional methods do not guarantee that the offshoot will have the same properties as the hybrid, it’s more likely the genetic material will that of either parent plants. As the tissue culture technique actually produces clones of the mother plant, the resulting offspring is guaranteed to have all the properties of the parent hybrid.

Apart from overcoming quarantine restrictions and being true-to-type, tissue culture plants are produced under optimal conditions, leading them to have better vigour and resistance to disease than plants obtained from conventional breeding methods.
Besides, it is possible to predetermine and manage the quantities of varieties produced according to requirement. This allows us to cater to small as well as big growers. The ability to produce numbers as per requirement also makes it possible for growers to manage their production schedules accurately.

Plant Biotech has made it possible to browse through their large variety of tissue culture plants ranging from bromeliads to exotic tropicals, and purchase them online – as tissue culture plants for international, TAS and WA buyers and as tubestock and potted plants for buyers within Australia.