Effect of Grafting Using Different Rootstocks on Growth and Yield of Eggplants

Plant grafting is a method to obtaining seedling for vegetable species that appeared as an alternative to disease and soil pests’ attacks and to the prohibition of using the methyl bromide for soil disinfection. Grafted vegetable have a higher resistance to lower temperatures and hydric, saline, nutritional stress etc., are more vigorous and more productive. In this research was used four rootstocks: three from the genus Solanum , ‘L1S’, ‘L23B’ and ‘Torpedo’, and one from the Lycopersicon genus, ‘Kaiser’; two eggplant hybrids F1 ‘Classic’ and ‘Black Pearl’ was used as grafts, resulting eight grafted combinations compared to the non-grafted hybrids. The grafting was performed when the thickness of the strain was approx. 2-3 mm, in simple copulation. The grafted seedlings were planted in a non-heated greenhouse, at the end of June, at a density of 1.8 plants/sqm for the grafted combinations and at 2.4 plants/sqm for non-grafted hybrids. The percentage of graft fixing was high, between 95% and 98% for all combinations, which shows a very high degree of compatibility between the grafts and rootstocks. The grafted plants had a higher vigour, height over 1 m, high degree of ramification, and a large number of leaves. The fruit production for the grafted plants was higher by 20-30% compared to the non-grafted ones while from the point of view of the content in dry substance and sugars there were no significant differences. Eggplants react very well to grafting on rootstocks from the same botanical family, obtaining more vigorous and more productive plants. This abstract was accepted to be presented at the conference entitled “ 40 Years of Horticulture Education in Cluj-Napoca ” Cluj-Napoca, September 27, 2017, being included in ‘Book of Abstracts’ of this special-anniversary event ( http://conference.shst.ro ). All accepted papers will be published in a special issue of Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca journal.