Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 77: 117, 2004. 117

Book Review

Razdan, M.K.: Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture.Enfield: Science Publishers Inc. 2003, 375 p., ISBN1-57808-237-4 (Paperback). US$ 49.50

Plant tissue culture has evolved into a major and in-dispensable component in many areas of fundamentalscience and applied biotechnology. The book underreview is an update of a volume published in 1992and is predominantly on the various applications ofplant tissue culture in applied biotechnology. It firstdiscusses some general concepts and then deals withthe various applications: in plant propagation, tissueculture is exploited in clonal propagation (now a fewhundred millions plantlets are produced in vitro every

year), and in plant breeding, tissue culture is usedin various key techniques such as haploid production,genetic modification, embryo rescue, in vitro fertiliz-ation and germplasm conservation. Furthermore, thebook also discusses plant tissue culture as a tool to freeplants from pathogens and to produce secondary meta-bolites. Readers who are looking for insights into themechanisms underlying the various applications won’tfind much in the book under review. Nevertheless, thisbook is a good starting text, especially for studentswho wish to have a general overview of the variousapplications of plant tissue culture.

Geert-Jan de KlerkLisse, The Netherlands