Question

Meristem culture helps in developing which of the following?

• A. Tall plants
• B. Disease resistant plants
• C. Virus free plants
• D. Hybrid plants

Hint:

Meristem culture helps in generating virus-free plants, making it an essential tool in plant tissue culture and disease management.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The shoot meristem divides faster than a virus can spread into it and is not yet connected to the plant's vascular system, so it usually escapes viral infection even in an otherwise infected plant.

Growing a whole new plant from just this meristem tip, rather than from height, genetic disease resistance, or hybridization (none of which relate to how meristem tissue behaves), regenerates a plant that is free of the virus.

So meristem culture is used to develop virus free plants.

Answer 2

Looking at this through where meristem culture is actually used commercially helps confirm the answer.

1. Tall plants: Commercial meristem culture is never used as a way to increase plant height; height is not the trait this method addresses.
2. Disease resistant plants: Growers use meristem-cultured planting material specifically because it comes out virus-free, not because the resulting plants gain new resistance genes against disease in general.
3. Virus free plants: This is exactly why the technique is used industrially -- certified disease-free planting stock in crops like potato and banana is produced through meristem-tip culture, because the actively dividing tip tissue is largely free of systemic viral infection.
4. Hybrid plants: Hybrid seed production relies on controlled cross-pollination between two parent lines, an entirely different process from culturing a single plant's own meristem tissue.

The commercial rationale for meristem culture lines up only with producing virus-free planting material.

So, the correct answer is virus free plants.