Differential Responses of Commercial Tomato Rootstocks to Branched Broomrape

Abstract

Gravely infestation of tomato fields by Broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) is growing in the Mediterranean basin. Completely devoid of chlorophyll, the root-parasite is entirely dependent on the host-derives and successively competes with the sink organs of infected plants. No efficient and economic control means has been found. Tomato grafting on resistant rootstocks is a very efficient solution for soil parasites control. The selected tomato rootstocks for their resistance to the soil parasites could be also a source of resistance to the Broomrape. In this work, we screen different commercial tomato rootstock genotypes for their resistance to Phelipanche ramosa. In the greenhouse conditions, we show that rootstocks are different in the degree of susceptibility to Broomrape. Attachment number, emergence number, and fresh matter of parasitic broomrapes are affected by rootstock genotype. A significant impact of the parasitism onto the dry weight of all infected tomato rootstocks with variable degree is observed. Energy, Groundforce and Eldorado which have less of attachment number and emergence number successively appear interesting for our objective. Keywords