Question

What are the prospects of somaclonal variation use in crop improvement programmes?

Answer 1

1. Generation of disease resistance: Somaclonal variation has been successfully used to develop disease-resistant varieties in crops such as sugarcane and potato for major fungal diseases.
2. Improvement of agronomic traits: Somaclones with desirable traits have been obtained in major crops:
3. • Sugarcane: disease resistance, improved cane quality, shorter crop duration.
   • Potato: resistance to Phytophthora, increased tuber size, early maturity.
   • Wheat: rust resistance, early flowering, reduced plant height.
   • Rice: early flowering, dwarfism, higher productivity.
   • Brassica: early flowering, disease resistance, cytoplasmic male sterility, lodging resistance.
4. Increased genetic variability: This variability is valuable for plant breeders as it provides new genotypes that may possess enhanced tolerance to diseases and other stresses, which might not be achievable through conventional breeding alone.
5. Selection for specific characteristics: By culturing plant tissues in vitro and selecting for genotypes with desired responses (e.g., disease resistance), somaclonal variation enables focused improvement of a single characteristic.