Advantages
of
Somoclonal
Variations - 1. Somaclonal variations occur in rather high frequencies, which is a great advantage over conventional plutagenesis.
2. Some 'new' alleles or even 'new' mutations may be isolated, which were not available in the germplasm or through mutagenesis.
3. Use of somaclonal variation may reduce by two years the time required for the release of new variety as compared to mutation breeding.
4. A very effective selection can be practised at the cell level for several traits, e.g., disease resistance etc.
5. This is the only approach for the isolation of biochemical mutants, especially auxotrophic mutants, in plants.
