Effect of grafting on tomato fruit quality

Abstract

The study aimed to assess if grafting affects tomato fruit quality. The research has been conducted in greenhouses where grafted and ungrafted tomatoes have been produced. A Romanian tomato hybrid and a Dutch tomato hybrid, 'Siriana' F1 and 'Abellus' F1, were used as scions and four cultivars of the Lycopersicon genus, 'Emperador' F1 (Dutch hybrid), 'L542', 'L543' and 'L544' (Romanian cultivars) were used as rootstocks. Eight grafted variants ('Siriana'×'Emperador', 'Siriana'×'L542', 'Siriana'×'L543', 'Siriana'×'L544', 'Abellus'× 'Emperador', 'Abellus'×'L542', 'Abellus'×'L543', 'Abellus'×'L544') and two ungrafted variants ('Siriana', control and 'Abellus', control) were obtained. The tomato fruit quality has been observed at 'Siriana' and 'Abellus' grafted on all rootstocks. Compared to ungrafted tomatoes, which have yielded 80.1% and 85.3% of extra and first quality fruits, 'Siriana' and 'Abellus' grafted on 'Emperador' have had a very good fruit quality, 82.3% and 86.8% and grafted on Romanian cultivars have had a quality between 79.1-79.8% and 84.1-84.4% to the same quality standards. Analyzing the dependence between the quality categories (extra and first class) and the soluble dry substance content, a positive dependence was observed between grafted plants and ungrafted plants at both hybrids, 'Siriana' r2 = 0.4914 and 'Abellus' r2 = 0.1517 and the carbohydrates content, a negative dependence was observed between grafted plants and ungrafted plants at both hybrids, 'Siriana' r2 = 0.017 and 'Abellus' r2 = 0.798. The total vitamin C content has decreased after grafting. The grafting has had an influence on the soluble dry substance content, the total amount of carbohydrates and vitamin C at all grafting combinations. It can be said that the rootstocks played an important role on the fruit quality.