Grafting Tomato to Manage Bacterial Wilt Caused by Ralstonia solanacearum in the Southeastern United States

Abstract

Rivard, C. L., O'Connell, S., Peet, M. M., Welker, R. M., and Louws, F. J. 2012. Grafting tomato to manage bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum in the southeastern United States. Plant Dis. 96:973-978.Bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, can result in severe losses to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) growers in the southeastern United States, and grafting with resistant rootstocks may be an effective strategy for managing this disease. However, R. solanacearum populations maintain considerable diversity, and little information is known regarding the efficacy of commercially available rootstocks to reduce bacterial wilt incidence and subsequent crop loss in the United States. In this study, tomato plants grafted onto 'Dai Honmei' and 'RST-04-105-T' rootstocks had significantly lower area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values compared with nongrafted plants (P < 0.05). Across three locations in North Carolina, final bacterial wilt incidence for non-and self-grafted plants was 82 ± 14 to 100%. In contrast, bacterial wilt incidence for the grafted plants was 0 to 65 ± 21%. Final bacterial wilt incidence of plants grafted with Dai Honmei rootstock was 0 and 13 ± 3% at two locations in western North Carolina but 50 ± 3% at a third site in eastern North Carolina. Similarly, grafting onto RST-04-105-T rootstock significantly reduced AUDPC values at two of the three locations (P < 0.05) compared with that of the nongrafted plants, but performed poorly at the third site. Total fruit yields were significantly increased by grafting onto resistant rootstocks at all three sites (P < 0.05). Regression analyses indicated that yield was significantly negatively correlated with bacterial wilt AUDPC values (R 2 was 0.4048 to 0.8034), and the use of resistant rootstocks enabled economically viable tomato production in soils naturally infested with R. solanacearum.

Graft Takes of Tomato on Other Solanaceous Plants

“…To overcome some of these hurdles, farmers rely on grafting technique, which consists in bonding parts of two plants by means of tissue regeneration developing a single plant (PEIL, 2003;CARDOSO et al, 2006;LOOS;CALIMAN;SILVA, 2009;SIRTOLI et al, 2011). Such tool make use of root systems (rootstocks) that are resistant, enabling control of diseases and pests related to the soil (LIN et al, 2008;RIVARD et al, 2012;GILARDI;GULLINO;GARIBALDI, 2013).…”

Overcoming biotic and abiotic stresses in the Solanaceae through grafting: current status and future perspectives

“…Rivard (2010) also reports that for the southeastern USA the use of interspecific hybrid (S. lycopersicum £ S. habrochaites) tomato rootstocks from Big Power, Maxifort and Beaufort with scions of Cherokee Purple and German Johnson not only controlled bacterial wilt but also southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii) and root-knot nematode (M. incognita) resulting in substantial and significant yield increases. In a further study conducted in three locations in North Carolina, Rivard et al (2012) again showed that bacterial wilt was very effectively controlled by use of tomato rootstocks Dai Honmei and RST-04-105-T with the variety Celebrity as the scion. Tomato yields were substantially increased over the self-grafted and non-grafted controls and enabled commercially acceptable production from fields infested with R. solanacearum.…”

“…The pathogen has a wide host range and maintains considerable diversity worldwide. This disease, if not controlled, may result in the death of all plants in a specific sowing in soils where some years of continuous cropping has taken place; fields may need to be excluded from the production of solanaceous crops (Rivard et al 2012). In studies conducted in Brunei, Peregrine and Ahmad (1982) demonstrated effective control of this disease with tomato varieties such as Roma grafted onto S. torvum rootstocks.…”

Grafting as an Alternate Tool for Biotic and Abiotic Tolerance with Improved Growth and Production of Solanaceous Vegetables: Challenges and Scopes in India

“…Source: Bolandnazar et al, 2014;Rivard et al, 2012;Keatinge et al, 2014;Onduso, 2014;Vitale et al, 2014;Hibar et al, 2006;Kaskavalci et al, 2009;Mochizuki and Yamakawa, 1979;Jang et al, 2012;Al-Chaabi et al, 2009;Rivard et al, 2010. Lee et al, (2010); Pandey and Rai (2003); Penella et al, 2014;AVRDC 2003AVRDC & 2009 The majority of users of grafted seedlings is currently greenhouse hydroponic tomato growers, whereas it is still a relatively unknown technique for open-field vegetable growers.…”