A general introduction to and background of plant tissue culture: Past, current, and future aspects

Plant tissue culture comprises all the ways to nurture the plant cell, tissue, or organ in a specific manner under an artificially created environment to produce uniform planting material in bulk. It also covers the ways by which one can improve the traits of the plant. Plant production outside the laboratory environment can be achieved through seeds, utilizing zygotic cells, or cuttings, through somatic cells. Thus, it is noteworthy that somatic cells have at least the potential for regeneration. In the case of cuttings, the tissue involved in the propagation procedure is meristematic tissue. However, under in vitro conditions, both the zygotic and somatic cells (including nonmeristematic tissues) contribute towards plant propagation. In vitro conditions or artificial environments are the key difference between plant propagation in field and plant propagation in laboratory. Such propagation under a controlled environment (micropropagation) leads to the mass multiplication of plants. The present chapter introduces the technique and emphasizes several factors controlling plant growth under in vitro conditions. The chapter also covers how plant tissue culture techniques can be utilized for plant production and trait improvement.