Impact of scion/rootstock reciprocal effects on metabolomics of fruit juice and phloem sap in grafted Citrus reticulata

Abstract

Background Rootstock has a significant impact on plant growth and development, including fruit maturation. However, the existence of mutual interaction between scion and rootstock is often neglected. To explore the origin of different fruit quality traits in citrus, we studied the effect of rootstock and the reciprocal interaction between scion and rootstock of nine combinations; three mandarin varieties grafted on three different rootstocks. We analyzed the metabolic profile of juice via gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS and LC-MS, respectively). Additionally, we profiled phloem sap composition in the scion and the rootstock. Quality traits of fruit and their physio-chemical characteristics were also evaluated. Results For all three cultivars, rootstock was found to affect fruit yield and biochemical fruit quality parameters (sugar and acidity) in interactions with the scions. In mandarin juice, eight of 48 compounds (two primary and six secondary) were related directly to the rootstock, and another seven (one primary and six secondary) were interactively affected by scion and rootstock. In scion and rootstock sap, six and 14 of 53 and 55 primary metabolites, respectively, were directly affected by the rootstock, while 42 and 33 were affected by rootstock interactively with scion, respectively. Conclusion In this work, we show for the first time a reciprocal effect between rootstock and scion. Based on our results, the scion and rootstock interaction might be organ, distance or time dependent.

Short Communication: Variations of morphology, anatomy, and metabolite profiles of Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. Tawangmangu grafts produced by shoot tip grafting using several rootstocks

“…It could be argued that composite plants with vigorous growth have a high metabolic profile similarity to the scion used, and it was inversely proportional to plants experiencing dwarfing. In this case, previous studies showed that rootstock was obviously influenced the composition of plant metabolites detected in the graft's leaves (Killiny et al 2018;Chitarra et al 2017), fruit juice (Aslam et al 2019;Chitarra et al 2017;Tietel et al 2020), and phloem sap (Tietel et al 2020). Results of this study were in line to some degree with those previous reports.…”

“…Some grafts have metabolite profiles closer to scion, but some of them were closer to rootstocks. In some cases, the characters occurring in composite plants were somewhat different from both the rootstock and scion, which was likely due to a combination or as a result of physiological interactions between scion and the rootstock (Killiny et al 2016;Tietel et al 2020). A study of metabolites comparisons on Citrus grafts conducted by Zhang et al (2019) revealed that the characters of chimeras synthesized artificially by grafting could be dominant in one plant donor, but in other characters, it was closer to other donors.…”

Fruit Ripening Development of ‘Valencia’ Orange Trees Grafted on Different ‘Trifoliata’ Hybrid Rootstocks

“…In citrus and other fruit species, including grapes (Vitis spp.) and apples (Malus domestica), grafting is a well-developed technique which combines a scion and a rootstock to form a new tree with a blend of characteristics, and the interaction between the rootstock and scion in a grafted tree is based on various physiological parameters [13][14][15][16]. In addition, the ripening of orange fruit is strongly influenced by the climatic conditions of the growing region [6,8,17].…”

Comparative Study of The Yield and Fruit Quality of Salustiana Orange Cv. Grafted on Some Citrus Rootstocks

“…Moreover, the rootstock increases scion ability to tolerate some unsuitable soil conditions such as pH, salinity and drought, beside fungal and viral diseases (Davies and Albrigo, 1994). Rootstocks have played a vital role in the fruit industry, and effect on more than 20 horticultural scion characters including: tree health and size, root system distribution and depth, low temperature tolerance, adaptability to some unsuitable soil conditions, nematodes and diseases resistance as well as tree yield, fruit quality and nutrient status (Legua et al, 2014;Somkuwar et al, 2015;Tietel et al, 2020). The effect of rootstocks on fruit quality incidences such as fruit volume, weight, rind thickness, juice content, TSS and acidity percentages of scion cultivars have been reported by many researchers (Mehrotra et al, 2000;Zekri and Al-Jaleel, 2004;Al-Jaleel et al, 2005;Ramin and Alirezanezhad, 2005;Muhtaseb andGhnaim, 2006 andAhmed et al, 2007).…”