Tomato fruit quality is more strongly affected by scion type and planting season than by rootstock type

Abstract

Previous studies of tomato rootstock effects on fruit quality have yielded mixed results, and few attempts have been made to systematically examine the association between rootstock characteristics and tomato fruit quality. In this study, grape tomato (‘BHN 1022’) and beefsteak tomato (‘Skyway’) were grafted onto four rootstocks [‘Estamino’ (vigorous and “generative”), ‘DR0141TX’ (vigorous and “vegetative”), ‘RST-04-106-T’ (uncharacterized), and ‘SHIELD RZ F1 (61–802)’ (mid-vigor, uncharacterized)] and compared to non-grafted scion controls for two growing seasons (Spring and Fall in Florida) in organically managed high tunnels. In both seasons and for both scions, the two vigorous rootstocks, regardless of their designation as “vegetative” (‘DR0141TX’) or “generative” (‘Estamino’), exhibited negative impacts on dry matter content, soluble solids content (SSC), SSC/titratable acidity (TA), lycopene, and ascorbic acid contents. Similar effects on fruit dry matter content and SSC were also observed with the ‘RST-04-106-T’ rootstock, although little to no change was seen with grafting onto ‘SHIELD RZ F1 (61–802)’. Further studies are needed to elucidate the impact of rootstock vigor on tomato volatile profiles and consumer sensory acceptability in order to better determine whether any of the documented effects are of practical importance. On the other hand, the evident effects of scion cultivar and planting season on fruit quality were observed in most of the measurements. The scion by rootstock interaction affected fruit length, firmness, pH, and total phenolic content, while the planting season by rootstock interaction impacted fruit firmness, pH, total antioxidant capacity, and ascorbic acid and lycopene contents. The multivariate separation pattern of planting season, scion, and rootstock treatments as revealed by the canonical discriminant analysis further indicated that the influence of scion cultivar and planting season on tomato fruit quality could be much more pronounced than the rootstock effects. The fruit color (C* and H°), length and width, SSC, pH, total antioxidant capacity, ascorbic acid, and lycopene contents were the main attributes distinguishing different scion-planting season groups.

Effect of Transplanting Dates and Varieties on the Vegetative Growth, Yield, and Yield Components of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

“…The early transplantation (18 th December) shows positive effect for all yield-related characters compared to the late transplantation ( 18th January) which is agreed with the findings of [21,25]. 6 The fruit set, fruit size, and ripening of tomato affected by temperature [26]. Fruit set percentage and fruit weight per plant declined when the daily mean temperature was 29°C, compared to 25°C [27].…”

Grafting onto Tomato Rootstocks Improves Outcomes for Dry-farmed Tomato

“…For example, in 2022 the scion 'BHN 871' had higher yields of large fruit when grafted onto 'Fortamino', whereas 'Big Beef' had higher yields of large fruit when grafted onto 'DRO141TX'. Others who have examined scionrootstock interactions in tomato have found effects on fruit yield (Mauro et al 2020), fruit count (Gong et al 2022a) fruit quality (Gong et al 2022b;Mauro et al 2020) (Ingram et al 2022;Mauro et al 2020). However, others have found no evidence of interactions between rootstocks and scions in terms of their effect on yield (Gong et al 2022a;Ingram et al 2022).…”