ABSTRACT
Virus diseases are present in virtually all food crop species and, depending on the virus and the severity of the host reaction, varying degrees of yield reduction may be attributed to infection with viruses. Some viruses remain localized near their point of infection, whether in the roots or in leaf tissue, and yield reductions associated with such infections are minimal. This chapter examines the role of plant tissue culture in virus disease control. Meristematic buds from apices of stems or from leaf axils are usually selected for tissue culture. Their advantage is that the incipient shoot has already differentiated; to establish an independent plant, only elongation and root differentiation are required. Many of the numerous contributions in the field of plant tissue culture can be directly applied to meristem culture and micropropagation.
