Vegetative, or clonal, propagation is the very basis of the tree fruit industry. For instance, 'Golden Delicious' apple trees found the world over have as their parent the single tree found on the Mullins farm in Clay County, West Virginia. These trees have been propagated by budding or grafting onto a desired rootstock and have the same genetic makeup (excluding bud sports or mutations) as the parent tree. This is true of every cultivar of temperate tree fruit. Other methods of propagation, including cuttings, layering, and tissue culture, may also be used to produce clonal rootstocks or self-rooted trees. Sexual propagation through seeds is used primarily for the production of rootstocks.
Was this article helpful?