Setting Up a Commercial Micropropagation Laboratory

A structural analysis of the plant production industry (Jones 1986; Table 1) shows that micropropagation has been integrated into the industry at several levels. Some laboratories (Type 1) sell proliferating cultures or rooted in vitro plantlets to conventional growing-on nurseries while others (Type 2) sell acclimatised young plants. A further strategy (Type 3) is to increase the value-added aspect of production by growing on the plants in-house (Harper 1988).