Vegetative Reproduction in Agriculture

Grafting is a technique where parts of two plants are joined together to grow as one, shortening the time it takes for a plant to produce fruit and allowing for manipulation of plant characteristics.

Grafting can be used for asexual propagation to clone trees with desirable fruit, and rootstocks can be selected for traits like cold tolerance or drought resistance.

At the molecular level, grafting involves cell de-differentiation, the formation of a callus, and the creation of vascular tissue (phloem and xylem) to facilitate communication and resource sharing between the root and shoot.