Abstract
The study aimed to assess if grafting affects tomato fruit quality. The research has been conducted in greenhouses where grafted and ungrafted tomatoes have been produced. A Romanian tomato hybrid and a Dutch tomato hybrid, ‘Siriana’ F1 and ‘Abellus’ F1, were used as scions and four cultivars of the Lycopersicon genus, ‘Emperador’ F1 (Dutch hybrid), ‘L542’, ‘L543’ and ‘L544’ (Romanian cultivars) were used as rootstocks. Eight grafted variants (‘Siriana’בEmperador’, ‘Siriana’בL542’, ‘Siriana’בL543’, ‘Siriana’בL544’, ‘Abellus’× ‘Emperador’, ‘Abellus’בL542’, ‘Abellus’בL543’, ‘Abellus’בL544’) and two ungrafted variants (‘Siriana’, control and ‘Abellus’, control) were obtained. The tomato fruit quality has been observed at ‘Siriana’ and ‘Abellus’ grafted on all rootstocks. Compared to ungrafted tomatoes, which have yielded 80.1% and 85.3% of extra and first quality fruits, ‘Siriana’ and ‘Abellus’ grafted on ‘Emperador’ have had a very good fruit quality, 82.3% and 86.8% and grafted on Romanian cultivars have had a quality between 79.1-79.8% and 84.1-84.4% to the same quality standards. Analyzing the dependence between the quality categories (extra and first class) and the soluble dry substance content, a positive dependence was observed between grafted plants and ungrafted plants at both hybrids, ‘Siriana’ r2 = 0.4914 and ‘Abellus’ r2 = 0.1517 and the carbohydrates content, a negative dependence was observed between grafted plants and ungrafted plants at both hybrids, ‘Siriana’ r2 = 0.017 and ‘Abellus’ r2 = 0.798. The total vitamin C content has decreased after grafting. The grafting has had an influence on the soluble dry substance content, the total amount of carbohydrates and vitamin C at all grafting combinations. It can be said that the rootstocks played an important role on the fruit quality.
 
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 In press - Online First. Article has been peer reviewed, accepted for publication and published online without pagination. It will receive pagination when the issue will be ready for publishing as a complete number (Volume 47, Issue 4, 2019). The article is searchable and citable by Digital Object Identifier (DOI). DOI link will become active after the article will be included in the complete issue.
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Highlights
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops in the world
This research was implemented in a randomized complete block design with two grafting combinations and the ungrafted control for each cultivar used. 30 plants were used in 3 replications of 10 plants each for every combination and control, in the following experimental scheme: V1 – ‘Siriana’ × ‘Emperador’; V2 – ‘Siriana’ × ‘L542’; V3 – ‘Siriana’ × ‘L543’; V4 – ‘Siriana’ × ‘L544’; V5 – ‘Siriana’, control; V6 – ‘Abellus’ × ‘Emperador’; V7 – ‘Abellus’ × ‘L542’; V8 – ‘Abellus’ × ‘L543’; V9 – ‘Abellus’ × ‘L544’; V10 – ‘Abellus’, control
Fruits quality The highest quality percentage was recorded at V6, the ‘Abellus’ grafted on ‘Emperador’ (86.8%), similar results were recorded at V7, V8, V9, the ‘Abellus’ grafted on Romanian lines (84.1-84.4%) and the lowest at V2, the ‘Siriana’ grafted on ‘L542’ (79.1%)
Summary
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops in the world. The grafting is a vegetative multiplication method that induces or improves some qualities on fruit production. Grafting on Solanaceae is a similar approach to crop rotation (Blestos et al, 2008), a practice meant to increase productivity, a method which has improved and spread quickly during the past years. This method aimed at producing plants with higher resistance or tolerance to soil diseases (Fusarium and Verticillium) and pests (nematodes), as well as to abiotic factors and at increasing tomato fruit quality and productivity (Hoza et al, 2017; Bogoescu, 2019). Research regarding the effect of grafting on the quality of tomato fruits is important to highlight possible higher values of some parameters compared to the tomato fruits from ungrafted cultures
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