Effects of three commercial rootstocks on mineral nutrition, fruit yield, and quality of salinized tomato

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill. cv. Belladona F1) plants were either self‐rooted, self‐grafted, or grafted onto the commercial rootstocks “Beaufort”, “He‐Man”, and “Resistar” and grown in a recirculating hydroponic system. Three nutrient solutions differing in NaCl‐salinity level (2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 dS m–1, corresponding to 0.3, 22, and 45 mM NaCl) were combined with the five grafting treatments in a two‐factorial (3 × 5) experimental design. At the control NaCl level (0.3 mM), fruit yield was not influenced by any of the grafting treatments. However, at low (22 mM NaCl) and moderate (45 mM NaCl) salinity levels, the nongrafted and the self‐grafted plants gave significantly lower yields than the plants grafted onto He‐Man. The plants grafted onto the other two rootstocks gave higher yields only in comparison with the nongrafted plants, and the differences were significant only at low (Beaufort) or moderate (Resistar) salinity. Yield differences between grafting treatments at low and moderate salinity arose from differences in fruit number per plant, while mean fruit weight was not influenced by grafting or the rootstock. NaCl salinity had no effect on the yield of plants grafted onto He‐Man but restricted the yield in all other grafting treatments due to reduction of the mean fruit weight. With respect to fruit quality, salinity enhanced the titratable acidity, the total soluble solids, and the ascorbic acid concentrations, while grafting and rootstocks had no effect on any quality characteristics. The leaf Na concentrations were significantly lower in plants grafted onto the three commercial rootstocks, while those of Cl were increased by grafting onto He‐Man but not altered by grafting onto Beaufort or Resistar in comparison with self‐grafted or nongrafted plants. Grafting onto the three tested commercial rootstocks significantly reduced the leaf Mg concentrations, resulting in clear Mg‐deficiency symptoms 19 weeks after planting.

Genetic dissection of tomato rootstock effects on scion traits under moderate salinity

“…This objective would enhance crop yield under organic production (Farias et al 2013) and nutrient stress (Savvas et al 2010;King et al 2010), increasing agriculture sustainability. Noteworthy, Savvas et al (2011) reported that grafting onto three commercial tomato rootstocks, significantly reduced the leaf Mg concentration resulting in clear Mg-deficiency symptoms of salinized tomato. Our results provide information on QTL positions at four chromosomes that could be used to improve the scion Mg content under moderate salinity through a proper rootstock selection.…”

Root-to-Shoot Hormonal Communication in Contrasting Rootstocks Suggests an Important Role for the Ethylene Precursor Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic Acid in Mediating Plant Growth under Low-Potassium Nutrition in Tomato

“…Boludo F1 (Seminis Vegetable Seeds Ibérica S.A., Barcelona, Spain) used as the scion to search for tolerant rootstocks under K deficiency (Albacete et al, 2015b). Grafting was performed using the splicing method at the two to three true leaf stages where the scion was attached at the first node of the rootstock (Savvas et al, 2011). One month later (25th September 2012), grafted plants were transferred to a commercial greenhouse located in the Mazarrón tomato producing area (37°33′19.96″ N, 1° 22′53.95″ W) and cultivated in a semi-hydroponic system using sand as substrate.…”

Tomato susceptibility to Fusarium crown and root rot: Effect of grafting combination and proteomic analysis of tolerance expression in the rootstock

“…Grafting is a technique adopted to increase the yield and tolerance to several soilborne pathogens in vegetables since 1920 (Lee, 1994). Besides the advantages on pathogen control, this technique is worldwide diffused for many crops to improve yield (Bletsos, 2003;Cassaniti et al, 2011), fruit quality (Savvas et al, 2011) and tolerance to a variety of abiotic stresses (Rivero et al, 2003;Giuffrida et al, 2013). It has been reported that tomato grafted plants show higher yield than ungrafted ones (Martínez-Rodríguez et al, 2002), and that their growth is dependent upon the interaction between rootstock and scion (e.g.…”