TITLE:
Differences in Root Growth and Permeability in the Grafted Combinations of Dutch Tomato Cultivars (Starbuck and Maxifort) and Japanese Cultivars (Reiyo, Receive, and Magnet)
AUTHORS:
Tomomi Kakita, Ayami Abe, Takashi Ikeda
KEYWORDS:
Isopiestic Psychrometer, Pressure Chamber, Root Surface, Water Potential
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.6 No.16,
October
27,
2015
ABSTRACT: Grafting is widely established in agriculture and provides practical advantages for vegetable production.
We investigated physiological differences between the grafted combinations of Dutch
(Starbuck and Maxifort) and Japanese (Reiyo, Receive and Magnet) tomato cultivars. Plants were
grown hydroponically until the flowers on the first truss bloomed, and the following parameters
were measured: fresh weight of the aerial parts, root surface area, root permeability (by using a
pressure chamber), and water potential of exudates (by using an isopiestic psychrometer). The
Starbuck/Maxifort combination had higher values of the aerial part weight, root surface area, and
root permeability than Reiyo/Receive, whereas Reiyo/Maxifort tended to have higher values of
these parameters than Reiyo/Receive and Reiyo/Magnet. Maxifort had a significantly larger root
surface area than Receive, but root permeability was not significantly different. InReiyo/Maxifort
and Starbuck/Receive, these parameters were not significantly different except for a single comparison
of root permeability. Thus, root permeability and root surface area may depend not only
on the rootstock but be also affected by scion in grafted plants. Water potential of exudates was
similar in most combinations and experiments. This shows that three rootstock cultivars provided
similar nutrient concentrations even with different scions.