Plant tissue culture is used by many companies and nurseries to propagate plants in a disease-free environment. Technicians who work in this area use many biotechnology skills.
If we look at the career description for plant tissue culture technicians, we can see they work in companies and nurseries to propagate plants in a sterile environment. There are many advantages to growing plants in tissue culture. Propagating plants in tissue culture allows growers to produce clones of one plant, thus ensuring that all plants have the same traits. Cultured plants mature quickly and can be kept disease-free. This method also allows scientists to genetically modify plants and screen for new traits. Many companies use plant tissue culture.
Since the process of plant tissue culture involves many common biotechnology skills, a certificate or associates degree in biotechnology would be helpful as well. Some InnovATEBIO college programs offer certificates in Agricultural Biotechnology that include plant tissue culture, other programs include plant tissue as part of their standard curriculum (e.g. Madison College, Madison, WI, Des Moines Area Community College, Iowa, Palm Beach State College, Florida, and State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, Florida). It would also be helpful to complete a certificate or associates degree in horticulture or plant science.
Our Ag Biotech page shows several employers using plant tissue culture in their operations and a quick Google Search shows the skills for this field are in demand.
If we search our company database, we can see plant tissue, we can find several companies across the US that use plant tissue culture and many of them have career pages. These companies are also work on plant breeding, micropropagation, seed treatments, and general agricultural biotechnology.
Submitted by Sandra Porter on Mon April 22, 2019.
