TITLE:
Effect of Grafting on Growth and Shelf Life of Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Grafted on Two Local Solanum Species
AUTHORS:
Somo Toukam Gabriel Mahbou, Godswill Ntsomboh-Ntsefong, Mongoue Fanche Aminatou, Fabrice Tchohou Lessa, Gaston Etoga Onana, Emmanuel Youmbi
KEYWORDS:
Rio Grande Tomato, Nkeya Eggplant, Solanum lycopersicum L., Solanum aethiopicum L., Solanum macrocarpon, Grafting
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.13 No.9,
September
20,
2022
ABSTRACT: The Rio Grande variety of tomato is widely grown
because of its high productivity during the cold and dry seasons, and its
resistance to Verticillium wilt
(caused by Fusarium oxysporium) and
to stem canker (Alternaria). Grafting
tomato onto compatible rootstocks resistant to these diseases offers a better
potential to overcome soil-borne diseases, abiotic stresses, improve growth,
yield and fruit quality. However, in Cameroon, there is little or no
information on grafting between Rio Grande tomato and selected eggplant
rootstocks. The objectives of this study were: 1) To determine the
compatibility between Rio tomato grafting and a popular local eggplant (Nkeya)
rootstock; 2) To verify the effect of grafting on flowering time; 3) To
evaluate the effect of eggplant rootstocks on growth, fruit shelf life and
fruit quality of Rio tomatoes. The trial was conducted in a randomized complete
block design with 3 replications. Rio Grande (To) was the ungrafted treatment
used as a control. To/Ko, To/To and To/Nk were the grafted treatments
eventually transplanted to the field. Growth data were subjected to analysis of
variance using SPSS software. Descriptive analyses were performed for the other
parameters. The results revealed that, 1) The cleft grafting method used was
successful with success rate varying between 90 and 100%; 2) Grafting
influenced flowering date (DAT, p = 0.05) as well as tomato growth parameters
including stem height (H, 1.49 × 10-10 p 0.00014) and collar diameter (SD,
4 × 10-14 p 0.009). The To/To treatment was
significantly different from the ungrafted cultivar To, which had no
significant difference in stem diameter. A significant difference
in plant height was also observed between the ungrafted treatment To and the
To/Ko and To/Nk treatments. In addition, only the collar diameter of To/Nk was
different from To. Also, there was no significant difference between To/To and
To, but a significant difference between To/Ko and To/Nk compared to To.
Conversely, grafting improved the lifespan of To/Ko. Ultimately, the grafting
method used was successful, but further studies are needed to overcome the
problem of graft incompatibility in order to improve the agronomic performance
of grafted plants.