A New Grafting Method for Watermelon to Inhibit Rootstock Regrowth and Enhance Scion Growth

Abstract

Grafting is a widely used technique in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production. However, cost of grafted seedlings is generally high as a result of intensive labor inputs for propagation using traditional grafting methods such as the manual removal of rootstock regrowth. This study developed a new grafting tool to physically remove the epidermis of pumpkin (C. maxima × C. moschata) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) rootstock cotyledon base during grafting; we called this a new grafting method. Compared with the traditional grafting, the new grafting method significantly decreased the pumpkin rootstock regrowth rate from 100% to 8% in hole insertion and 2% in one cotyledon grafting, respectively. These attenuated rates for bottle gourd rootstock regrowth were 23% and 9% in hole insertion and one cotyledon grafting, respectively. The scion dry weights of new hole insertion and one cotyledon grafting were increased by 78% and 74% when pumpkin was used as rootstock as compared with traditional grafting without regrown rootstock removal, while the respective values were 33% and 17% in bottle gourd rootstock grafted plants. In addition, the time used for the new hole insertion grafting method to physically remove the epidermis of pumpkin rootstock cotyledon base was significantly shorter than the time required to remove the rootstock regrowth manually three times in the traditional grafting (4.2 s/plant vs. 9.3 s/plant). Similar results were also observed in the new one cotyledon grafting (4.2 s/plant vs. 8.8 s/plant). Taken together, this study presents a new method in watermelon grafting to reduce rootstock regrowth, therefore benefiting both scion growth and plant management, thus the development of this new method is clearly useful in watermelon production.

Design and Experiment of Automatic Clip-Feeding Mechanism for Vegetable-Grafting Robot

“…The push rod 9 is installed in the middle part of the base 7 through a slide rail pull head, and connected and fixed with the piston rod of the clip-pushing cylinder 6, so that the push rod 9 enters the clip-feeding slideway 2 and the clamping hand 1 through the support block 10 to push out the grafting clip. The working process is as follows: 1 The grafting clip opening moves forward from the vibrating feeder into the discharging row slideway at a certain speed to form a queue of inclined grafting clips; 2 Two discharging cylinders of the row-discharging part work alternately, and each time one grafting clip is discharged from the grafting clip queue into the clip-feeding slideway; 3 When the grafted seedlings are transported to the corresponding position for grafting, the clip-pushing cylinder extends out to drive the push rod to push the grafting clip into the clamping hand from the clip-feeding slideway, so that the grafting clip opening is opened; 4 The clamping cylinder is opened to drive the clamping hand to open, and the grafting clip breaks away from the clamping hand to clamp the grafted seedlings and complete the clamping action, then another round of clip-feeding operation is started.…”

“…The models of the clip-pushing cylinder and clamping cylinder are SMC CDJ2RA16-85Z-B and AirTAC HFT0-20S, respectively. The design requirements of the push rod are as follows: 1 To reduce the deformation of steel ring or the damage to the clip body in the pushing process, the application point in clip pushing is located on the upper and lower sides of the rear part of the clip opening, to move away from the clip tail and the steel ring; 2 the opening angle of the grafting clip entering the clamping hand clip mouth reaches the maximum, so as to ensure that the grafted seedlings can smoothly enter the clip opening and be safely clamped; 3 the push rod moves smoothly to ensure a high success rate of clip pushing and feeding.…”

“…Vegetable grafting is conducive to preventing continuous cropping obstacles and relevant pests and diseases [1,2]. After grafting, the disease resistance of crops is significantly enhanced [3,4], and yield is increased by 20-50%; hence, the technology is widely applied in the world.…”

Grafting‐induced seed gossypol levels by demethylation of (+)‐delta‐cadinene synthase genes in upland cotton

“…Previous studies demonstrated that grafting caused bidirectional long‐distance transfer of messenger RNAs, microRNAs, and other small RNAs. Further studies revealed that sRNAs can induce epigenetic variation through an RNA‐directed DNA methylation pathway in recipient tissues of grafts, mostly altering cytosine methylation, occurring at both coding genes and transposons (Cerruti et al, 2021; Huang et al, 2021; Ince & Karaca, 2021; Liu et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2013).…”

Study on the Method of Matched Splice Grafting for Melon Seedlings Based on Visual Image

“…Vegetable grafting can effectively overcome the soil-borne diseases and insect pests caused by continuous cropping [1]. After grafting, the ability of a plant root system to absorb fertilizers and water is significantly enhanced, and the yield can be increased by 20-50% [2,3]; therefore, grafting technology is extensively applied in the world [4,5]. In the last two decades, the vegetable seedling cultivation industry in China has enjoyed rapid growth.…”