ABSTRACT
Agronomic crops supply the greater proportion of man's food either for direct or indirect consumption through livestock products. The most important agronomic crops include the cereal grains, seed legumes, and forage crops. This chapter presents a classification of agronomic crops according to use, the current status of in vitro propagation, technology for culture of somatic tissue in a general sense and for specific crops, problems of using in vitro techniques for cloning, and potential applications and future prospects of this technology for improving agronomic crops. It covers root and tuber crops such as potato, sweet potato, and cassava on vegetable crops. The chapter discusses current technology and procedures for specific classes of crops and crop species. The basis for all plant tissue culture media is a mixture of mineral salts combining the essential macro- and micronutrient elements together with a carbon source, usually sucrose.
