(a) Micropropagation:
It is rapid vegetative multiplication of plant material for agriculture, horticulture and forestry. This process is very fast and highly reproductive. Micropropagation has great advantages because:

1. Tissue culture provides rapid multiplication. A small plant bearing 5 - 6 leaves is produced within a few weekly Under favourable condition while under normal conditions may need several months.
2. By tissue culture method, large number of offspring on plantlets can be obtained every year.
3. The progeny of those plants can be obtained in millions which multiply with difficulty by conventional methods.
4. The plantlets obtained by tissue culture (meristem culture) are disease free.
5. Cloning can be done through out the year in a very small space under controlled conditions.
6. Offspring can be obtained of sterile plants or of rare hybrids of extraordinary characters.

Micropropagation is done by following methods:

• Multiple Shootlet Production: Shoot tips are used for tissue culture and raising mini - plants, shoot tips produce multiple buds in culture medium and bud grows into a shoot. By using rooting hormone the shoot is induced to produce roots. Micropropagation is done in cardamom, potato, almond, orchids, banana, gerberas, Chrysanthemum, Begonia etc.
• Somatic Embryogenesis: The embryos developed from a single somatic cell by tissue culture are known as somatic embryoids. It can be done in carrot, alfa - alfa, Celery etc.

(b) Anther Culture:
By another culture, androgenic haploid embryos or plantlets are produced from the microspores or pollen grains. Guha and Maheswari (1964) obtained androgenic haploid plants by anther culture of Datura innoxia, in culture medium containing kinetin, coconut milk or grape juice.

Ovule and Ovary Culture:
Ovules are excised from the ovary and cultured on the basal medium. By ovule culture, the loss of a hybrid embryo due to premature abscission of fruit may be prevented by ovule culture. Ovary culture has helped in raising interspecific hybrid between sexually incompatible species. Brassica campestris and B. oleracea. Ovaries are excised from the flowers and cultured at the zygote or two - celled proembryo stage for obtaining normal development on culture medium. Coconut milk when used as supplement to the medium promotes formation of fruits that are larger than those formed in vivao.