Question

What do you think – Is vegetative reproduction also a type of asexual reproduction? Why do you say so? Is the term clone applicable to the offspring formed by vegetative reproduction?

Answer 1

Hint: Asexual reproduction is the one in which only parent is involved in formation of the offspring and the offspring produced looks identical to the parent plant and also the genetic composition of offspring is same as that of the parent.

Complete answer:
Yes, the vegetative reproduction is also a type of asexual reproduction. Vegetative reproduction is said to be the type of asexual reproduction because in this only one parent plant is required for producing the new off springs. Vegetative reproduction is the process in which the plant’s parts like roots, stem or leaves are involved in the production of new progeny. Flower is not involved in this process as it is the main sexual reproductive part of the flower.
In vegetative reproduction, only vegetative parts are involved. The term clone is applicable to the offspring which are formed by the process of vegetative reproduction as they are completely identical to the parent plant both morphologically and genetically. Clones are also defined as the exact copies of the parent organism.

Some features of the vegetative reproduction are:
- Plants which have lost the capacity for the production of seeds can be grown by this method like grapes.
- Plants are genetically and phenotypically identical to the parent plant.
- Techniques like grafting, cutting and layering can be used.
- In Bryophyllum, leaves have notches which when soiled up give rise to the new plants.

Note: Except vegetative reproduction, other modes of asexual reproduction involve – budding, fragmentation, binary fission etc. All these methods also produce exactly identical offspring as to the parent. Vegetative reproduction propagates by different means like sucker, offset, tubers, bulbs, rhizome etc.