Commercial micropropagation in Western Europe and Israel

Abstract

An analysis has been made of commercial micropropagation in 15 West European countries and Israel. In 1988 Western Europe had a total of 248 commercial tissue culture laboratories, of which 37 each produced more than one million plants per year. The total production of 1988 was 212.5 million plants. The most important categories of micropropagated plants are: pot plants (92.2 million), cut flower crops (37.8), fruit trees (19.4), and the bulbous and cormous plants (13.2). The most frequently cloned crops are: Ficus, Syngonium, potato, strawberry, Spathiphyllum and Gerbera. The largest producers of micropropagated plants are: The Netherlands, France and Italy; accounting for 62% of the total Western European production.

Since detailed information was available for micropropagation in The Netherlands for the period 1980–1988, special attention has been paid to this country, which accounts for 29% of the Western European production. The Netherlands has a total of 67 tissue culture laboratories with a production of 61.7 million plants in 1988. The three most commonly produced plants in the Netherlands are Nephrolepis (12.8 million), Gerbera (16.3 million) and lily (12.6 million).

In 1988 Israel had 5 commercial tissue culture laboratories with a total production of 4.9 million plants.