Agronomic characteristics of tomato plant cultivar Santa Cruz Kada grafted on species of the genus Solanum

ABSTRACT In this study were evaluated gas exchanges, fruit production and fruit quality of tomato Santa Cruz Kada grafted onto different species of the genus Solanum, using two grafting methods. For the grafted tomato cultivation, the authors used a randomized complete block design, in a 8x2 factorial scheme, evaluating eight rootstocks: accessions of mini tomatos (0224-5, RVTC 57, RVTC 20 and 6889-50); wild tomato species Solanum habrochaites var. hirsutum (PI-127826); Solanum pennellii (LA716); Solanum sessiliflorum (cubiu); and tomato cultivar Santa Cruz Kada (self-grafting, control), and two grafting methods {cleft grafting (FC) and approach grafting (EC)}. The authors verified a significant interaction between rootstock x grafting method. The S. pennellii rootstock provided the best results for physico-chemical characteristics, when grafted using the cleft method. However, the same method, along with cubiu rootstock, presented lower fruit production. Considering the gas exchange and productive characteristics, S. habrochaites as rootstock for tomato Santa Cruz provided the best results for photosynthetic yield and water use efficiency, and for the commercial fruit production characteristic, both grafting methods, and for the average mass of commercial fruits when grafted using FC, with about 5.03 kg/plant and 163.5 g/fruit, respectively. In relation to the grafting methods, the cleft showed to be the most suitable.