Abstract

Production of synthetic seeds has unraveled new vistas in in vitro plant propagation technology, because it offers many useful advantages on a commercial scale for the propagation of a variety of crop plants. These tools provide methods for production of synthetic seeds for conversion into plantlets under in vitro and in vivo conditions. This technology is useful for multiplying and conserving the elite agricultural and endangered medicinal plant species, which are difficult to regenerate through conventional methods and natural seeds. The synthetic seed technology was developed in different economically important plant species such as vegetable crops, forage legumes, industrially important crops, cereals, spices, plantation crops, fruit crops, ornamental plants, orchids, medicinal plants and wood yielding forest trees etc. All these aspects are presented in this review.

Key words: Synthetic seeds, in vitro, in vivo plant propagation.

Abbreviation

MS, Murashige and Skoog medium; BA, 6- benzyl-adenine; µM,micro moles; mg/l, milligrams per liter; NAA, α- napthalene acetic acid; GA_3,gibberellic acid; ABA, absicic acid; Synseed, synthetic seed; KN, Kinetin; TDZ,thidiazuron; PPM, plant preservative mixture; PLBs, protocorm like bodies; ISSR,inter simple sequence repeat; RAPD, random amplified polymorphic DNA; IBA, indole 3 butyric acid.