| CODE | RFS2150 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Plant Propagation Techniques | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 9 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Rural Sciences and Food Systems | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This is a detailed study-unit in Plant Biotechnology covering the basic principles of Plant Propagation and Plant Tissue Culture. The students will be introduced to all aspects of plant propagation including methods of propagating by seeds, bulbs, divisions, layers, cuttings, budding, grafting. These are explained in relation to timing, technique, and material for making cuttings, environmental conditions, and media requirements for rooting cuttings of ornamental plants, fruit trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Students will be introduced to the modern aspects of plant propagation through micropropagation techniques. The principles of plant tissue culture will be discussed. This entails different conditions for the propagation of material when related to the traditional propagation methods. Study-unit Aims To provide the student with an opportunity to become acquainted with the propagation of plants: by seed or by the various vegetative techniques currently practiced in horticulture. Emphasis is placed on seed propagation, grafting, stem and root propagation, micro-propagation, and other propagation techniques. Upon completion, students should be able to successfully propagate plants under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1) describe the procedure and techniques of tissue culture in agriculture; 2) discuss propagation methods for horticulture plants; 3) identify and name grafting and budding techniques; 4) categorize and describe the different rooting and shooting hormones; 5) identify the constituents of liquid and solid media used in tissue culture; 6) recognise the need for aseptic conditions in tissue culture and methods to obtain such a sterile environment; 7) discuss factors affecting the cutting collection process; 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1) demonstrate the techniques involved in micro-propagation with the appropriate tools in hand; 2) interpret a recipe for culture medium and manipulate the composition of the different nutrients to suite the condition at hand; 3) devise a protocol for a given culture - solid to liquid media and viceversa; 4) demonstrate the techniques involved in successful cutting, layering, division and grafting propagation, with the appropriate tools in hand. 5) demonstrate scarification, stratification, and planting techniques, given a horticulture seed. 6) construct a suitable environment for rooting, when given the proper equipment. 7) demonstrate skills to extract a plant regeneration procedure from published research papers Main Text/s and any supplementary readings - Experiments in Plant Tissue Culture by Dodds JH and Roberts LW. (1995) 3rd Edition. Cambridge University Press. (Main Library). - Hartmann and Kester's Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices by Hudson T. Hartmann, Dale E. Kester, Fred E. Davies, Robert Geneve. Prentice Hall; 8 edition (2002). (Main Library). - Plants from Test Tubes by Kyte L and Kleyn J. (1996) 3rd Edition. Timber Press, Inc. - American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques by Alan Toogood (Author) DK ADULT (1999) - Plant Cell and Tissue Culture - A Tool in Biotechnology: Basics and Application (Principles and Practice) by Karl-Hermann Neumann, Ashwani Kumar, Jafargholi Imani: Springer; 1 edition (2009) |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Study-units: RFS2500 or related study-unit Co-requisite Study-units: AGR2550 or related study-unit |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Fieldwork, Lectures and Tutorials | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Everaldo Attard (Co-ord.) Larry Shoemake |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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