ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Tomato Rootstock Breeding: Evaluation of Tomato Interspecific Hybrid Rootstocks Under Greenhouse Conditions
2020 Volume 89 Issue 5 Pages 575-585
Details
2020 Volume 89 Issue 5 Pages 575-585
Tomato grafting is an important agricultural technique to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses and increase plant growth and productivity. Breeding and selection of resistant and vigorous rootstocks are necessary to achieve grafting goals. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate eight tomato interspecific hybrids between accession Solanum lycopersicum L. LA1221 ‘VFNT cherry’, as the female parent and each of wild accessions S. chmielewskii LA1028 (Chm-1028); S. galapagense LA0530 (Gal-530); S. habrochaites CGN 15391 (Habr-15391) and LA1777 (Habr-1777); S. pennellii AusTRCF 312075 (Pen-312075) and LA716 (Pen-716); and S. pimpinellifolum AusTRCF311810 (Pim-311810) and CGN18388 (Pim-18388), as male parents, as rootstocks under greenhouse conditions compared to the commercial rootstock ‘Emperador’, to select the most suitable rootstock. S. lycopersicum ‘Santa Cruz Piedade’ was selected as a scion and used as self-grafted and non-grafted controls. Plant growth and productivity measurements were estimated for the grafted and non-grafted plants. The response to the evaluated rootstocks was not consistent for many of the studied traits, denoting that the scion was differently influenced by the rootstocks. Grafts did not always outperform self-grafts. Grafting onto either Pen-312075, Habr-15391, or Pim-18388. in addition to self-grafting, increased the total and marketable yields compared to the non-grafted plants, with proportions that would enable increased profits and cover the extra cost of grafting. In addition, fruits from these grafts had acceptable quality traits. Therefore, the interspecific hybrids Pen-312075, Habr-15391, and Pim-18388 are considered suitable rootstocks to improve the scion ‘Santa Cruz Piedade’. Greater and continuing efforts are needed to evaluate several interspecific hybrids, as well as different high yielding scion cultivars, to select the most suitable rootstocks for different scion cultivars.
