graft tomatoes tocontrol soil - borne diseasescould be a price - effective management result in some organic production situations , according to a University of Florida study .
alumnus student Charles Barrett and horticulture professor Xin Zhao are examining the effectuality of using rootstock in organic production of grafted heirloom tomatoes to supply opposition to or tolerance of origin - knot nematodes — a prolific filth - borne pathogen of Florida ’s sandy soils . In addition , the researchers are interested in assessing the emergence , yield and fruit quality of the grafted tomato plant , as well as analyzing the costs and returns of grow and using transplant Lycopersicon esculentum in constituent farming systems .
“ Graftingis not a new proficiency worldwide , but its interest group in the U.S. has been increasing in late old age as a possible alternative to chemicals as a disease - direction tool , ” Zhao says . “ constitutive agriculturist , particularly , have special option for verify dirt - borne diseases and root - knot roundworm . chemical are n’t the result , and crop rotation , which is an alternative , may not always be workable , specially when you are dealing with pocket-sized - scale yield systems . That ’s why we wanted to await at grafting as an option . ”
The cognitive operation of graft involve mix the foliation and fruit - develop top ( scion ) of a plant cultivar with the rhizome of another plant cultivar , producing a plant that carries the characteristic of both the rootstock and the scion . In the UF study , twoheirloom tomatocultivars were engraft onto two hybrid tomato rootstock cultivar that show tolerance or resistance to root - mi nematodes and evince a vigorous increment substance abuse .
“ The final result of our study prove that both rhizome significantly reduced root - air mile nematode galling in the grafted plant as compared with the non - grafted and self - grafted scion plants , ” Barrett allege . “ Root - nautical mile roundworm cause root cheekiness that damage the ascendant and thus result in the plant ’s pitiful carrying into action . ”
Barrett studied the strength of the grafted tomatoes versus the non - grafted tomato in two nematode - infested fields : one that had a history of consistently high root - knot nematode populations and one where root - knot nematode worm were premise through the planting of a susceptible harvest .
“ In the arena with very high-pitched pest air pressure , we see one rootstock was even more effective than the other rootstalk in diminish root galling , but there was no clear kinship between root galling and tomato payoff , ” Barrett says . “ well yields with one rootstock - scion combination were observed as compared to the non - grafted plant and self - grafted plants in that field . In the field where the pest population was induced and not as high as the other field , we saw less gall development on the rootstock grafted love apple than the non - grafted and ego - grafted works , but there was little difference in yield . ”
The researcher hold that the effects of graft on root - knot nematode control and Lycopersicon esculentum return merit more in - depth research , but the take - home message from the field of study is that when see root - nautical mile nematode infestations , grafting is a method that can be used to overcome this soil - borne pest .
Barrett add that in their economical analysis , the researchers come up that the economical benefit of grafting is most evident when used in extremely infested fields .
“ The cost of grafting can be four times more expensive than non - grafted transplants so there is a restriction of adoption , ” Zhao says . “ Ultimately , the decision of count the price of producing / using grafted graft versus the expected return has to be made by the grower . ”
Zhao says that extra graft research is required , including more economic analysis ; using the technique in other production systems , such as high tunnel ; encouraging more breeders to get involved so more rootstock are available for growers ; performing more site - specific studies on various rootstalk and scion cultivar ; and exploring the nutrient - direction look of graft .
The grafting cogitation is supported by a $ 10,000 Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Graduate Student Grant . The nutritive - management enquiry is also supported by a Southern SARE Graduate Student Grant ( “ Enhancing Nitrogen and Water Use Efficiency in Tomato Producer by Using Grafting Technique ” ) .
To check more about the project , “ Integrated Use of Grafting Technology to meliorate Disease Resistance , Yield and Fruit Quality in Organic Heirloom Tomato Production , ” visit the national SARE project database and hunting by labor issue GS10 - 096 .
