The implications of a growing agronomic imperative for vegetable fruit quality and nutritive value of vegetable grafting

Abstract

Grafting is a time-honored technique. Grafting has been performed for millennia and researched for decades, but its application to the vegetable industry in the United States and elsewhere is still evolving. Grafted vegetable plants are ‘physical hybrids’ created by merging at least two kinds, a rootstock, and at least one scion, with the first providing key features and the second producing fruit(3). The procedure is similar to organ transplantation in that the rootstock and scion varieties and seedlings must be compatible, the operating room and patients must be clean and free of disease, the grafter must use appropriate methods, and the newly-grafted plants must be allowed to recover under specific conditions. Grafted plants are clearly adaptable, saleable, genetic solutions to production problems for farmers of Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae plants including tomato, pepper, watermelon, and cantaloupe(2).