Grafting in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.): a sustainable way of increasing the yield

Abstract

The grafting success of commercial brinjal F1 hybrids on disease-resistant varieties and wild Solanum species has enumerated the effect of rootstock combinations with scions on the fruit yield of brinjal. The Galine F1 (4.25, 35.75) hybrid took significantly lesser days, and it was at par with Mahy-11 F1 hybrid (4.75, 37.50), whereas varieties and wild species recorded maximum number of days for germination and reaching to the grafting stage, thus synchronization of grafting stage of scions and rootstocks could be achieved by staggered sowing. The significantly highest graft success noted Galine F1 (96.67%) and Mahy-11 (94.44%) grafting on Solanum torvum rootstock, thus these combinations were highly suitable for grafting. The highest number of branches (15.29), fruits per plant (30.18), yield per plant (4.40 kg) and yield per hectare (61.11 t) were found by scion Mahy-11 grafting on Solanum torvum rootstock and differed significantly from the other scion and rootstock graft combinations. For the grafting characteristics, growth and yield traits were found to be superior and were influenced by the grafts i.e. Mahy-11 and Galine F1 scion grafted on rootstock Solanum torvum. Thus, Solanum torvum rootstock is highly suitable for brinjal grafting compared to other rootstocks.