Tomato graft compatibility on wild rootstocks and its effects on productivity

Abstract

Plant grafting is a technique that aims to join two different parts of plants, rootstock and scion, to form a plant. The grafting allows to combine a vigorous root system with a scion of commercial interest. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the compatibility of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) with wild rootstocks Solanum paniculatum and Solanum aculeatissimum. Then, tomato and rootstock seeds were sown in 128-cells polystyrene trays filled with commercial substrate based on pine bark. At 15 days after sowing, when the plants had 3-5 fully expanded leaves, grafts were performed by cleft technique and the fixation between rootstock and graft was performed with grafting clips for Solanaceae. Then, the plants were accommodated in a humid chamber until complete healing, about 14 days. After healing, grafted and non-grafted plants were transplanted to a greenhouse. The percentage of survival and production of the plants were evaluated. A randomized block design with three treatments (ungrafted tomato plants, rootstock Solanum paniculatum and Solanum aculeatissimum) and ten replications was used. There was high survival of grafted plants. Furthermore, all treatments had a similar number of fruits. However, the diameter and mass of fruits were reduced because of grafting, especially of plants grafted onto Solanum paniculatum. We concluded that there was compatibility of tomato with wild rootstocks, but there was a reduction in tomato yield due to the smaller mass and diameter of fruits.