Vegetable grafting involves grafting a scion vegetable plant onto a rootstock plant to improve traits like disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, yield and quality. The document discusses the history of vegetable grafting, benefits like resistance to soilborne diseases and tolerance to stresses. It also describes different grafting methods like cleft grafting and tube grafting used for various rootstock-scion combinations in vegetables like tomato, eggplant, cucumber and watermelon. Automated grafting has increased grafting efficiency and reduced costs compared to manual grafting. Some examples of vegetable grafting experiments conducted in India are also provided.

2. Submitted To:
Dr. R.R. Acharya
Research Scientist & Head of Department,
MVRS, AAU, Anand
Submitted By:
VAGHELA KALPESHBHAI S.
M.Sc. (Horti.) Vegetable Science
Second Semester
Reg. No: 04 -3178-2017
AN ASSIGNMENT
ON
VEGETABLE GRAFTING
COURSE TITLE: BREEDING OF VEGETABLES
COURSE NO: VSC 503

3. What is Vegetable Grafting ?
• Vegetable grafting is similar to grafting of fruits trees in
the way that the rootstock is selected for vigor and disease-
resistance, and the scion is selected for fruit quality and
taste. ... They have also begun to graft peppers, eggplant,
and melons onto more vigorous, disease-resistant root
stocks.
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4. Scion Rootstock
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5. • The production of grafted vegetable plants first began in Japan and
Korea in the late 1920s with watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Matsum.
et Nakai) grafted onto pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) rootstock (Lee
1994)
• Soon after, watermelons (Citrullus lanatus) were grafted onto bottle
gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) rootstocks.
• Eggplant (Solanum melongena) was grafted onto scarlet eggplant
(Solanum integrifolium Poir.) in the 1950s.
• Later, grafting was introduced to North America from Europe in the
late 20th century and it is now attracting growing interest, both from
greenhouse growers and organic producers (Kubota et al. 2008)
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History and Current Status

6. 5
• More over, in organic cultivation of vegetables grafting
eliminates the use of chemicals in disease control.
• Because of the above said reasons it is now attracting
growing interest, both from greenhouse growers and
organic producers.
• This process is now common in Asia, parts of Europe and
the Middle East (Davis et al. 2008).
“It is an old technology with new techniques”

7. Why grafting works?
• The roots!
A stronger, more vigorous root system
More water and mineral nutrients uptake
Often more cold hardy: roots of figleaf
gourd function at 8°C, while roots of
cucumber function above 10°C
Need less water and fertilizer

8. What can we benefit from growing
grafted vegetables?
• Resistance/tolerance to biotic stress
• Tolerance to environmental stresses(abiotic tress)
• e.g., low temperature, salinity, drought, flooding
• Enhanced nutrient and water uptake
• Improved plant growth
• Yield increase
• Rootstock effect on fruit quality
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9. Complementary to breeding programs
- “graft hybrid”
- rapid deployment of new genetic
sources
- take full advantage of germplasm
Scion
Rootstock
Desirable aboveground traits
Desirable belowground qualities
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What can we benefit from growing
grafted vegetables?

10. Benefits of Vegetable Grafting
• Resistance/tolerance to biotic stress(soil born diseases)
• Fusarium wilt: cucumber, melon, watermelon, tomato
• Fusarium crown and root rot: tomato, cucumber, watermelon
• Monosporascus wilt: melon, watermelon
• Verticillium wilt: tomato, eggplant, watermelon
• Phytophthora blight: pepper
• Bacterial wilt: tomato, eggplant
• Root-knot nematodes: tomato, eggplant, pepper
Barrett et al., 2012; Davies et al., 2008; Lee, 1994; Lee, 2003; Lee and Oda, 2003; Louws
et al., 2010; Oda, 2007; Rivero et al., 2003
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11. Disadvantages of Grafting
• Cost
o Labor, if manually
o Cost ,for a Robot if automatically
o Cost for rootstock: not cheap
• Grafting Incompatibility
• Fruit quality could be down: it depends on
the combination of rootstock/scion varieties

12. Rootstock, major grafting methods, and purpose of grafting for
vegetables
Vegetable Popular rootstock species Grafting method y Purpose x
Watermelon Guard (Lagernaria siceraria var. hispida)
•Interspecific hybridisation
•Wax guard (Benincasa hispida Cogn.)
•Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata L.)
•Squash (Cucurbita pepo L.)
•Sicyos angulatus
1
1,2
1,3
2,3
1,2
2
1,2
1,2,3
1,2
1,2,3
1,2,3
5
Cucumber Fig leaf guard (Cucurbita ficifolia)
F1 (Cucurbits maxima x Cucurbits
moschata)
Cucumis sativus , Sicyos angulatus
2
2
2
2
1,2,3
1,2,4
1,2
2,5
Melon Cucumis melon 3 3,4
Tomato Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium (L.)Mill
Lycopersicon hirsutum
Lycopersicon esculentum
3,4
3,4
3,4
5
5
5
Brinjal Solanum integrifolium
Solanum torvum
2,3
2,3
6
6,7
Y:graftng method-1.hole insertion method, 2.tongue approach grafting, 3.cleft grafting, 4.tube grafting.
X:purpose of grafting-1.tolerance to fungal wilt, 2.growth promotion, 3.low temperature tolerance, 4.growth period
& extension, 5.resistant to nematode, 6.bacterial wilt tolerance, 7.reduction of virus infection9

13. 1. Low temperature tolerance
• Grafting is useful to initiate flowering and fruit set at low temperature.
• Grafted plants have more content of Linolenic acid, which helps in the
survival of plants under low temperature (Pandey and Rai, 2003).
• Concentration of proline, vitamin-c and water soluble sugars were
higher in grafted seedling than in ungrafted seedling (Ai et al, 1999).
• Grafted plants can survive at 10oC also.
• Grafts may save the energy of poly house in cooler parts of the world.
• Grafts have been used to induce resistance against low temperature
(Bulder et al., 1990).
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14. 2. High temperature tolerance
• Use grafted tomato may give certain degree of resistance against
thermal stress. (Rivero et al, 2003)
• The use of eggplants as rootstocks for tomato at higher temperature
seemed to be more promising. (Abdelmageed and Gruda,2009)
• Eggplants grafted onto a heat-tolerant rootstock of eggplant seemed to
be promising and resulted in a prolonged growth stage and yield
increase up to 10%. (Wang et al., 2007)
• Chilli grafted on sweet pepper rootstocks has given highest yields
under high-temperature conditions. (Palada and Wu, 2008)
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15. 3. High salt tolerance
• Grafts have been used to enhance vegetable tolerance to salinity
and give high yield. (AVRDC, 2000)
• Grafting provides an alternative way to improve salt tolerance.
(Estan et al, 2005)
4. Flood Tolerance
• Inter-generic grafting imparts flood tolerance in cucurbits.
• Grafting improved flooding tolerance of bitter gourd (Momordia
charanthia
• L. cv. New Known You ) when grafted onto sponge gourd (Luffa
cylindria Roem cv. Cylinder). (Liao and Lin, 1996)
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16. 5. High yield
Grafting increases yield through…
• Enhanced water uptake.
• Enhanced nutrient uptake.
• Manipulating harvest period.
6. Improving quality traits
• Grafting increases number of marketable fruits and decrease number
of malformed fruits in tomato. (Pandey and Rai, 2003)
• Flavor, pH, sugar, color, carotenoid content, and texture can be
affected by grafting and the type of rootstock used. An increase in
ascorbic acid content in tomato was found with grafting.
• Grafted fruit had a better colour and highest lycopene content in
tomato. (Chung et al., 1997)
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17. 14

18. Methods of Grafting
1. Cleft Grafting
2. Tongue Approach/Approach Grafting
3. Hole Insertion/Top Insertion Grafting
4. One Cotyledon/Slant/Splice grafting
5.Tube Grafting
6. Pin Grafting
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19. 1. CLEFT GRAFTING
• It is a simple and easy method
• It is suitable for rootstocks with wide hypocotyls
• Can be practiced in all vegetables
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20. 17

21. • Most widely used by farmers
and small nurseries
• This method requires more
space and labor compared to
other methods but high
seedling survival rate can be
attained even by beginners.
• Grafted seedlings have a
uniform growth rate
• It is not suitable for
rootstocks with hollow
hypocotyls
2. Tongue Approach/Approach Graft
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22. 3. Hole Insertion/Top Insertion Grafting
This is most popular in cucurbits.
• When scion and rootstock have
hollow hypocotyls, this method
is preferred (Hang et al., 2005)
• One person can produce 1,500
or more grafts/day
• To achieve a high rate of
success, relative humidity
should be maintained at 95%.
• After healing temperature
should maintain at 21-36◦C up
to transplanting.
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23. 4. Slant grafting
• It has recently been adopted
by commercial seedling
nurseries (Sakata et al., 2007).
• It is applicable to most
vegetables.
• It has been developed for
robotic grafting.
• Grafted plants should be
maintained in the dark at 25
◦C and 100% humidity for
three days for graft union.
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24. 5. Tube Grafting
• It is similar to slant grafting except that in this method root stock
& scion joined are held with an elastic tube instead of clips.
• It is more popular in tomato, brinjal.
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25. Grafting methods for different rootstocks
ASHOK KUMAR B.*AND KUMAR SANKET, 2017
SCION PLANT ROOTSTOCK METHOD
Eggplant S. torvum
S. sissymbrifolium
S. khassianum
Tongue grafting
Cleft method
Both tongue and cleft
Tomato L. pimpinelifolium
S.nigrum
Cleft method
Both tongue and cleft
Cucumber C.moschata
Cucurbita maxima
Hole insertion and Tongue grafting
Tongue grafting
Water melon Benincasa hispida
C.moschata
C.moschata x C. maxima
Hole insertion and Cleft method
Hole insertion and Cleft method
Hole insertion
Bitter gourd
Bottle gourd
C.Moschata
C.moschata, Luffa sps.
Hole insertion and Tongue grafting
Hole insertion and Tongue grafting
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26. Automated Grafting
The first semiautomatic cucumber grafting
system was commercialized in 1993.
• A simple grafting machine can produce
350–600 grafts/hour with 2 operators,
whereas manual grafting techniques
produce about 1,000 grafts / person / day.
(Gu, 2006).
• A fully automated grafting robot performing
750 grafts/hour with a 90-93% success rate.
(Kubota et al, 2008)
Robots model Developed by Vegetable crops
AG1000
robot
Fully
automated
Osaka, Japan
Co.,1994
Solanaceous
vegetables
Arnabat
S.A.
Semiautomated Barcelona,(Spai
n),2000
Cucurbits and
Solanaceous
GR-800 &
GR-600
Semiautomated Helper
Robotech
Co.,Korea
(2004)
Cucurbits
Semi automated grafted machine
developed by Helper Robotic Company,
Korea
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27. 25

28. Vegetable grafting done in India
 Chilli and Tomato grfted on Brinjal plant-
July,10,2012: Such a wonder is done by Dr.
Shreeram Palav of Jalna Maharashtra. KKV
Dapoli
 Imparting disease resistance through grafting in
brinjal-in devil plant.
 Ranchi based farmer Manohar Lal has resulted
this unique distinctive plant that bears tomato and
eggplant.
 Narayan Chawda (MAHASAMUND) identified
various rootstock- scion combinations in cucurbit
and solanaceous vegetables to mitigate adverse
effects of stressful conditions.
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29. CUCURBIT GRAFTING IN INDIA
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Momordica cochinchinensis is a dioecious plant. The female plants are
grafted on to the Male plants to increase its production. 98% of graft
success is observed at NBPGR regional station, Thrissur, Kerala ICAR
News, 2011, V. 17(1)
GRAFT UNION

30. TOMATO
• Grafting in tomato is started around 1960 and 1970 (Edelstein
2004).
• Tomato production during the hot-wet season in most of the
Southeast Asian countries is constrained by biotic and abiotic
factors including flooding, impact of heavy rains, high
temperature and high incidence of soil borne diseases such as
bacterial wilt and nematodes (Palada and Wu 2007).
Grafted & non- grafted tomato plant with fruits

31. POMATO
• Pomato plant is a result of grafting of tomato on potato
plants.
• We can reap tomatoes on the top of the plant and potatoes
under the soil.
TOMATO
POTATO

32. MICROGRAFTING
• With the term micro grafting we mean the grafting of meristematic tissues
• in vitro in the laboratory in which the shoots of one plant are grafted on to the
shoots or roots of another plant so as to combine the characteristics of the two
plants.
• This method was used for the first time in 1952 by Morel and Martin .
• Micro grafting was initially used on vegetables to study the physiological basis
of the grafting process and to determine the chemical basis of cell to cell union.
Micrografting of vegetables on a commercial scale started only recently in an
attempt to reduce the high cost of production of grafted seedlings with classical
methods. Much of the cost results from the high price of hybrid vegetable seed, while
for micrografting, only a small number of seeds of the rootstock and scion are required.
Several thousand transplants can be produced from the 2-3 week seedlings within a
short period of time (Sarowar et al. 2003).
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33. • The success rate of micrografting is relatively high (80– 90%)
for tomatoes (Grigoriadis et al. 2005).
• The gradual introduction of seedlings to the vegetable propagation
trade so as to reduce the role of seed, in combination with the
demand for certified seed from organized growers and nurseries to
produce and sell a uniform, guaranteed product, will help to
increase the adoption of micrografting for the production of grafted
vegetable seedlings.
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34. 1. Grafting provides a site specific management tool for soil borne diseases.
2. It fits well into the organic and integrated crop production system. It reduces
the need for soil disinfectants and thereby environmental pollution.
3. Grafting and other propagation techniques has a potential in promotion of
cultivation in non-traditional and fragile agro-eco system.
4. Since grafting gives increased disease tolerance and vigor to crops, it will be
useful in the low-input sustainable horticulture of the future.
5. Grafting is a rapid alternative tool to the relatively slow breeding methodology
aimed at increasing biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of fruit vegetables.
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35. Refference :
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.govtps:
• https://www.researchgate.net
• www.ikisan.com/tg-turmeric tissue-culture.html
• Slide Share. com
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