Grafting for managing vegetable crop pests.

Abstract

Nematode and disease resistant rootstocks have been developed for many vegetable crops including tomato, eggplant, melon, watermelon, and cucumber and are being utilized by an increasing number of growers. Grafting commercially desirable vegetable scions on nematode and disease resistant rootstocks has been significantly stimulated by the need for an alternative to banned soil fumigation with methyl bromide, which had been the primary method for managing soil-borne nematodes, diseases, and weeds. Rootstocks resistant to root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) and diseases including Fusarium wilt, Fusarium crown and root rot, Verticillium wilt, bacterial wilt, Southern blight, and sudden wilt have been developed and many are available commercially. New technologies such as transcriptomics, identification of differentially expressed genes, transgene rootstocks, and RNAi silencing are being used in the development of vegetable rootstocks which are resistant to pests, salt tolerant, and heat and cold tolerant. Overall, grafting has proven to be a successful and environmentally safe method for managing root-knot nematodes and soil-borne diseases by reducing infection, disease development, and inoculum build-up in the soil, which is especially important for growth of healthy subsequent crops. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.