In the process of evolution, nature came up with the following methods of plant propagation: seed and vegetative.
The latter suggests the possibility of obtaining a new individual from some part of the plant. This is a kind of cloning. The plant reproduces its exact copy. There are significant advantages to this - usually species that breed in this way are unpretentious, resistant to environmental changes, and adapt well to them. But there are certain disadvantages - they cannot occupy vast territories, since there is no mechanism for the movement of a daughter individual over long distances, it is tied to the mother plant.
Seed (there are male and female flowers) reproduction appeared later, it gave an impetus to the spread of vegetation on the Earth's surface. Yes, this reproduction does not have stable results, very much depends on the conditions in which the seeds fall. But plants have found a way to solve this problem. They produce seeds many times more than necessary, making allowance for the fact that out of 60% of the plants simply can not develop. So the chances are even. It so happens that some representatives of the flora can use different types of plant propagation. For example, strawberries are mainly propagated by shoots, but few people know that it produces seeds.
The methods of plant propagation were taken as a basis by people when they realized that it was possible to create new varieties with improved qualities. So the science of selection was born. Of course, getting a new cultivar of a plant propagating by seeds is rather difficult. This is a long and painstaking work. Just imagine: a breeder must cut off male flowers on some plants, then pollinate them with flowers of others, and besides, do this on large areas. One can only envy such patience. It’s easier with cross-pollinated - they are simply planted nearby and the necessary specimens are selected. This, of course, is easier, but practice shows that the results of such selection are rather unstable.
But the methods of vegetative propagation of plants give more stable results. These include breeding using shoots, cuttings, rhizomes,
tubers and bulbs. These methods of plant propagation are widely used by gardeners who are engaged in berry, flower and fruit crops. Moreover, this procedure is simple and gives 80-85% of successful result. For example, many fruit trees multiply by root shoots. In addition, grafts of cuttings of the same variety are often used on growing trees or established seedlings. Raspberries are propagated by root processes. You can get a new currant bush by sprinkling ground with the lower branches. And strawberries with a
cosmic speed give a mustache. If you calculate how much you can get from one bush, you get 200 pieces. Of course, as practice shows, not all of these plants will give a stable crop, so gardeners do not allow strawberries to multiply at this pace. But the scale is impressive.
Using all the methods of plant propagation, a man got the opportunity to regulate the number of various species himself, which allows him to solve the problem of feeding a steadily growing humanity.