Grafting eggplant as a control method of soilborne pathogens and nematodes

Abstract

Soil borne pathogens and nematodes are very destructive in vegetable crops and one of the most limiting factors to farmer's income. Soil fumigation has been an essential component of greenhouse crops since the 1960s, but according to the Montreal Protocol (1997), methyl bromide, as an ozone-depleting compound, is banned for plant protection (fumigation applications) in Romania, starting January 2005. Growing vegetables without soil fumigants has remained a challenge, in part because commercially acceptable eggplant cultivars produced through conventional breeding lack resistance to many soil borne plant pathogens. Grafting cultivars with high quality and productivity on rootstocks that are resistant to the soil pests and diseases is a method known for many years, but which was improved and quickly spread in the last years. Therefore, the objective of the research was to evaluate the performance of the eggplant grafting on some rootstocks, in greenhouse conditions. The study was carried out in the experimental greenhouse of the Horting Institute from Bucharest. Data obtained in the combinations scion/rootstock were compared with data recorded from plants not grafted. Disease incidence, disease severity and the attack degree of soilborne disease and pest were determined and calculated in the experimental variants. The grafting process led to significant reduction in the incidence of attack produced by soil borne disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae, Pyrenochaeta lycopersici) and nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita).