What are the advantages of tissue culture methods over conventional methods of plant breeding in crop improvement programmes?

(N/A) The advantages of tissue culture methods are:
$(i)$ By application of these methods,it is possible to achieve propagation of a large number of plants in very short durations.
$(ii)$ This method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called micro-propagation.
$(iii)$ Each of these plants will be genetically identical to the original plant from which they were grown,i.e.,they are somaclones.
$(iv)$ Many important food plants like tomato,banana,apple,etc.,have been produced on a commercial scale using this method.
$(v)$ Another important application of the method is the recovery of healthy plants from diseased plants. Although the plant is infected with a virus,the meristem (apical and axillary) is free of virus. Hence,one can remove the meristem and grow it in-vitro to obtain virus-free plants. Scientists have succeeded in culturing meristems of banana,sugarcane,potato,etc.