In the 1980s, micropropagation technique was first tried to adopt a tank culture in conformation with
fermentation technology, for example, for a perfume plant Pelargonium graveolens at Kanebo Cosmetics in Japan.
However, liquid culture never gained popularity because manufacturing cost was not expected to be lowered to
guarantee successful commercialization; it is unlikely to increase the density of cultured shoots in a tank.
Nowadays, micropropagation is used as a process for a rapid in vitro multiplication of shoots selected as the elite
strains from the field, before getting them back to grow in the field.