Micropropagation and field performance of Yucca valida.
Yucca valida is an important potential source of steroidal saponins closely related to Yucca schidigera, the species that is commercially exploited from the wild as a source of steroidal extracts. Neither of the species has been domesticated mainly because of their slow growth and long life span before harvesting. Here, we report a micropropagation method to generate isogenic or clonal lines for plantation purposes. Seventeen clonal lines were propagated and evaluated over a period of 26 months in an experimental plantation and compared with the performance of plants from seeds. The large variability found between the plants derived from seeds is manifested in the differences observed between the different clonal lines; however, these present a much smaller internal coefficient of variation than the one observed in the population of plants derived from seeds. Some clonal lines perform in a superior manner indicating that a process of selection and cloning can generate lines of fast growing individuals for plantations that can satisfy the demand for these materials without putting a natural resource at risk.