Vigorous rootstocks improve yields and increase fruit sizes in grafted fresh market tomatoes

Abstract

Grafting high yielding tomato cultivars (Solanum lycopersicum L.) onto vigorous rootstocks can increase marketable yields, but questions remain regarding optimal cultural and growing conditions such as pinching and plant spacing. This study addressed some of the dynamics between grafted plants and cultural practices. Two scions, ‘Tasti-Lee’ (TL) and ‘Mountain Fresh Plus’ (MFP) were grafted onto each of three rootstocks, ‘Beaufort’, ‘Arnold’, and ‘Shield’. Plants were pinched (removal of main shoot to induce both axillary shoots to grow) or non-pinched, and spaced at 56 or 61 cm. All 32 grafted treatments were compared to the grower standard: non-grafted TL and MFP spaced at 46 cm, which were non-pinched. Fruit quality traits including soluble solids content, pH, lycopene concentration, and titratable acidity were recorded for fruit harvested from tomatoes grafted onto ‘Arnold’, ‘Beaufort’, ‘Shield’ and non-grafted TL. The overall effect of grafting TL and MFP onto vigorous rootstocks ‘Arnold’, ‘Beaufort’, and ‘Fortamino’ increased marketable yields per hectare by 24-35% compared to non-grafted grower standards. The rootstock ‘Shield’ did not significantly increase yields with either scion. TL had a more positive response to grafting than MFP. ‘Arnold’, ‘Beaufort’, and ‘Fortamino’ significantly increased TL fruit size, but the fruit size results were not as significantly impacted by graft treatments for MFP. Plants spaced at 56 compared to 61 cm generated similar yields. Pinched plants significantly increased yields over non-pinched plants by 15% in 2018 but did not impact yield in 2017. No consistent difference was observed between pinched and non-pinched plants with regard to fruit size, only plants grafted with ‘Shield’ benefited significantly from being pinched. Soluble solids content, pH, total lycopene concentration, and titratable acidity differed slightly between grafted and non-grafted plants but was unlikely to positively or negatively affect overall perception of fruit quality in tomatoes. A partial budget analysis revealed that grafting with ‘Arnold’ or ‘Beaufort’ consistently increased profits in this low-disease field.

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).…”

“…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). It should be noted that all of these studies were conducted with irrigation supplied.…”

“…Although grafting onto 'DRO141TX' and 'Fortamino' increased yield and reduced BER, other considerations and tradeoffs should be investigated. Grafting may also affect the dry matter, soluble solids concentration, titratable acidity, and texture, and these may affect consumer preference (Al-Harbi et al 2017;Ingram et al 2022;Turhan et al 2011;Urli c et al 2020). This is especially important because the increased intensity of flavor is cited as a reason to dry-farm tomato (Leap et al 2017).…”

Qualitative Characteristics and Functional Properties of Cherry Tomato under Soilless Culture Depending on Rootstock Variety, Harvesting Time and Bunch Portion

“…This result suggests that both the Suzuka and Kaiser rootstocks were better adapted to the greenhouse microclimatic conditions and responded better to the adopted cultivation practice than Top Bental, fully expressing their productive potential. Several authors have suggested that grafting tomato plants onto vigorous rootstocks improves fruit yield [46][47][48]. An increased efficiency of nutrient and water use, as a result of more vigorous root system development [49,50], was reported to play an important role in promoting the yield of grafted plants.…”

DNA barcoding identification of grafted Semen Ziziphi Spinosae and transcriptome study of wild Semen Ziziphi Spinosae

“…Grafting connects the rootstock to the scion and involves cutting cells at the incision site and allowing new tissues to merge, forming new plants [10][11][12]. This technique is crucial for fruit tree breeding because it directly affects the growth, yield, and quality of various fruit trees, such as Prunus armeniaca L. [13], plum trees [14], and apple trees [15].…”