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Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 2003, 43, 1269–1274

Effect of different rootstock on plant growth, yield and quality of watermelon H. YetisirA,C and N. SariB ADepartment of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mustafa Kemal Hatay, Turkey. BDepartment of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey. CAuthor for correspondence: e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. This study was conducted in Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Cukurova in 1999 and 2000. Watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum and Nakai] cultivar Crimson Tide was grafted onto 10 different rootstocks. Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima and Lagenaria siceraria were open pollinated cultivars, and Strong Tosa, Gold Tosa, P360 (Cucurbita maxima × Cucurbita moschata), Skopje, Emphasis, 216 and FRG (Lagenaria spp.) were hybrid cultivars. The ungrafted Crimson Tide watermelon cultivar was used as the control. Plants were grown under low tunnel conditions until the outdoor temperature was suitable (22–25°C) for watermelon growth. Our results showed that while survival rate was low (65%) in Cucurbita type rootstocks, it was high (95%) in Lagenaria type rootstocks. Grafted plants flowered about 10 days earlier and showed more vigorous vegetative growth than the control plants. Grafted plants had up to 148% higher fresh weights than control plants. Similarly, grafted plants showed 42–180% higher dry weight, 58–100% more leaves and larger leaf area as compared with the control. In total yield, Lagenaria type rootstocks produced a higher yield but Cucurbita type rootstocks produced a lower yield than the control. While control plants had 6.43 kg/m2 yield, Lagenaria type rootstocks produced 27–106% higher yield than the control. In contrast, Cucurbita type rootstocks had 127–240% less yield than the control. This could be attributed to incompatibility of Cucurbita rootstocks because some of the plants died before harvest. The study showed that rootstock choices influence plant growth as well as yield and quality of scion fruit, suggesting an important consideration in the potential use of grafting applications in watermelon. Additional keywords: grafting, growth rate, fresh and dry weight.

Introduction Watermelon is one of the most important fruit crops in Turkey. Turkey is the world’s second largest watermelon producing country after China with 4 million tonnes (Anon. 2001). Watermelon has been cultivated intensively for many years in the Cukurova region of southern Turkey. Cultivation is conducted mostly under low tunnels for early production. A serious problem of watermelon cultivation the Cukurova region is a decrease in yield due to soilborne diseases, in particular Fusarium, and successive cropping. One classical solution to overcome this problem is crop rotation, which recommends that watermelon should not be cultivated at least for 5 years in the same field infected with Fusarium disease (Messiaen 1974). For this reason, watermelon producers have to pay at least 2-fold more for field rent for watermelon production. Combined breeding programs could be applied to control soilborne diseases (McCreight et al. 1993). However, developing new cultivars resistant to diseases is time-consuming and enhances the chances of the resistant cultivars becoming susceptible to new races of © CSIRO 2003

pathogens. Alternatively, grafting onto resistant rootstocks may enable control of soilborne diseases and increase yield (Balaz 1982; Lee 1994; Oda 1995; Lee and Oda 2003). Grafting is an important technique for the suitable cultivation of fruit-bearing plants in Japan, Korea and some other Asian and European countries, where intensive and continuous cultivation is performed. Grafting in vegetables was first performed in Korea and Japan in the late 1920s by grafting watermelon onto gourd rootstocks (Ashita 1927; Yamakawa 1983). After the first experiments, the areas of cultivation and species of grafted vegetables have consistently increased. Watermelon is one of the vegetables species in which grafting is performed intensively. Watermelons are grafted to control Fusarium wilt, to increase low temperature tolerance and to increase yield by enhancing water and plant nutrients uptake (Masuda et al. 1981; Jang 1992; Heo 1991; Oda 1995). For these purposes, watermelons are grafted onto Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima, Benincasa hispida and Lagenaria siceraria. Lagenaria siceraria is a widely used species as

10.1071/EA02095

0816-1089/03/101269

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Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture

rootstock to watermelon (Lee 1994). The following problems are commonly associated with grafting and cultivating grafted plants. Grafting requires time, space, materials and experience (Lee 1994; Edelstein et al. 1999). Graft incompatibility and a decrease in fruit quality may develop depending on the combination of scion and rootstocks (Papodopoulos 1994). Furthermore, grafted plants require different cultivation methods (Lee 1994). The aims of the present study were to determine the compatibility rate of watermelon with different rootstocks, and ascertain the effects of different rootstocks on vegetative growth, yield and quality of watermelon fruit. Materials and methods Grafted plant material and experimental design The watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai] cultivar Crimson Tide (C.tide) was grafted onto 10 different rootstocks. Seeds of C.tide were sown on 3 February 1999 and on 20 January 2000. Rootstock seed was sown on 10 February 1999 and 25 January 2000. Name, definition and source of rootstocks are presented in Table 1. Non-grafted C.tide was used as the control. The hole-insertion grafting technique was used and plants were grafted following the procedure described by Lee (1994) and Lee and Oda (2003). Seedlings were grown in an unheated greenhouse under plastic tunnels. The grafted plants grown in the greenhouse were transplanted to low tunnels on 4 April 1999 and 14 March 2000, and the tunnels were removed when the outside air temperature was suitable (20–25°C) for watermelon growth. Plants were fertilised with 180 kg N/ha, 200 kg P2O5/ha and 180 kg K2O/ha. Micronutrient fertilisation was not applied. Total P was applied before transplanting to the field. Nitrogen and K2O were divided into 3 equal portions. The first portion was applied before transplanting to the field, the second 20 days after transplanting and the third 40 days after transplanting in the field. The experimental design was a completely randomised block design. Each treatment was replicated 4 times with 15 plants in each replicate. Plants were grown with 2.0 by 0.5 m spacing. Measurements Survival rate. Live grafted plants were counted 15 days after grafting and survival rate was expressed as a percentage of the total number of plants grafted. Flowering time was expressed as the number of days required from sowing to the first flowering of male and female flowers. Biomass. Plants were sampled twice, 25 and 50 days after transplanting. From each replicate, 2 plants were collected for each sampling event. The diameter of rootstock hypocotyl, diameter of scion Table 1.

H. Yetisir and N. Sari

hypocotyl, number of leaves and leaf area were determined for each plant. The eighth fully expanded leaf from the apex of the main stem was used for leaf area measurement (Beadle 1985). Fresh weight of rooted plants was determined. The plant material was dried for 48 h and then reweighed for dry weight. Harvest Ripe fruits were harvested from 5 June to 30 June 1999 and from 14 June to 5 July 2000, and weighed immediately after harvest. Five fruit from each replicate were randomly chosen to assess the fruit weight (kg) and soluble solids content of the fruit juice (%). The selected fruit were sliced, and rinds and seeds removed. Juice was extracted from each fruit and soluble solids concentration was determined using a hand refractometer at 20°C. Number of fruit per plant was determined by dividing the total number of harvested fruit by number of plants in each replicate. Means are presented as the average of 2 years. Statistical analysis Data were subjected to an analysis of variance by COSTAT statistical program and means were compared by Tukey’s test at P = 0.01. Some l.s.d. values are also presented.

Results and discussion Survival rate of grafted plants and flowering time are presented in Table 2. Higher graft affinity rate (90–97%) was observed between watermelon and Lagenaria type rootstocks whereas a lower affinity rate (63–82%) was observed between watermelon and Cucurbita type rootstocks. The highest survival rate was observed in the graft combination of C.tide–EMP and the lowest rate in the C.tide–CMO combination. Grafted plants flowered earlier than control plants. Male flowers opened 2–7 days earlier in grafted plants than in control plants. Female flowers also opened 4–8 days earlier in grafted plants than in control plants except for the plants grafted onto rootstock LSC. The Table 2. Survival rate and flowering time of grafted and non-grafted plants (days after seed sowing) (see Table 1 for full rootstock name) Control plants were not grafted Rootstock

Name, definition and source of rootstocks

Rootstock

Definition

Source

FR Gold (FRG) Emphasis (EMP) 216 Lagenaria siceraria (LSC) Skopje (SK) Cucurbita moschata (CMO) Cucurbita maxima (CMA) Gold Tosa (GT) P360 Strong Tosa (ST)

Lagenaria hybrid Lagenaria hybrid Lagenaria hybrid Landrace Lagenaria hybrid Landrace Landrace Cucurbita hybrid Cucurbita hybrid Cucurbita hybrid

Korea Korea Korea Urfa, Turkey Korea Mersin, Turkey Adapazari, Turkey Korea France Korea

FRG EMP 216 LSC SK CMO CMA GT P360 ST Control (C.tide own-rooted) l.s.d. (P = 0.05)

Survival rate (%)

Flowering time (days from sowing to first flowering) Male flower Female flower

90.25 97.44 92.13 89.63 96.00 63.50 82.62 72.56 70.87 71.00 100.00

98.00 99.38 98.25 98.87 98.12 97.62 95.32 98.62 100.00 98.87 102.62

105.75 105.62 107.50 111.25 105.87 104.62 103.87 106.25 107.75 107.37 111.25

4.04

1.54

1.89

Different rootstock effects on watermelon


C.tide–LSC combination and control plants flowered at the same time. Significant differences were found between the diameter of rootstock hypocotyls and scion hypocotyls (Table 3). The diameter of the rootstock hypocotyl was significantly affected by the rootstock genotype. The thickest hypocotyl was measured in rootstocks GT (10.9 mm) and CMA (10.8 mm). In general, Cucurbita type rootstocks had thicker hypocotyls than Lagernaria type rootstocks. Scion hypocotyl diameter was positively affected by rootstocks and plants had thicker scions than control plants. The thickest scion was measured in the graft combination of C.tide–GT and the smallest scion diameter measured in control plants. As in rootstock diameter, scion grafted on Cucurbita type rootstocks had thicker hypocotyl than plants grafted onto Lagenaria rootstocks. Fresh weight was also significantly affected by rootstock. Grafted plants on different rootstocks had 6–136% heavier fresh weight than control plants except in the C.tide–216 combination. The highest fresh weight was produced by the combination C.tide–CMA while the C.tide–216 combination had the lowest fresh weight. In general, Cucurbita type rootstocks promoted vegetative growth than the other rootstocks. Both grafting and rootstock affected the dry weight of plants. Grafted plants had a higher dry weight than control plants. Increases in dry weight varied from 27 to 230% depending on rootstock. The highest dry weight was produced by plants grafted onto CMO (14.69 g) while the control plants had the lowest dry weight (4.44 g, Table 3). The plants had different number of leaves depending upon rootstocks. While the combination of C.tide–GT had the highest number of leaves (40 leaves/plant), control plants produced the lowest number of leaves (16 leaves/plant). Cucurbita type rootstocks had more leaves than the control plants and Lagenaria type rootstocks except P360. Leaf area Table 3.

was also significantly affected by rootstock. Grafted plants had larger leaf areas than the control plants except the combinations of C.tide–216, C.tide–ST and C.tide–P360. The largest leaf area (88.87 cm2) was recorded in plants grafted onto GT whereas the smallest leaf area (49.06 cm2) was produced by the C.tide–ST combination. The same parameters were measured 50 days after planting and are presented in Table 4. Rootstock hypocotyl diameter varied depending on rootstock. The thickest hypocotyls (14.7 mm) were recorded in CMA and CMO. Control and rootstock 216 had the thinnest hypocotyls, 9.9 and 11.2 mm, respectively. Cucurbita type rootstocks had thicker hypocotyls than the control and Lagenaria type rootstocks. Scion hypocotyl diameter was also significantly affected by rootstock and grafted plants had thicker hypocotyls than control plants. Scion diameter increased from 6 to 44% depending on rootstock as compared with the control (Table 3). Plant fresh weight was significantly affected by rootstocks and grafted plants produced a higher fresh weight than control plants. While the combination of C.tide–SK and C.tide–GT produced the highest fresh weights, 1278 and 1330 g/plant, respectively, control plants and P360 had the lowest fresh weight, 535 and 539 g/plant, respectively (Table 4). In dry weight, a significant difference was recorded between grafted and control plants. Dry weight change was dependent on rootstock. Grafted plants produced 42–182% more dry weight than control plants. The highest dry weight was recorded in the combination of C.tide–GT with 140 g/plant while the control plants had the lowest dry weight with 49.6 g/plant. The number of leaves per plant was significantly affected by rootstocks and grafted plants had more leaves than control plants. Control plants had the lowest leaf number (109 leaves/plant) while the C.tide–GT combination

Diameter of rootstocks and scions, dry and fresh weights, leaf number and leaf area of control and grafted plants at 25 days after transplanting (see Table 1 for full rootstock name)

Rootstock C.tide–FRG C.tide–EMP C.tide–216 C.tide–LSC C.tide–SK C.tide–CMO C.tide–CMA C.tide–GT C.tide–P360 C.tide–ST Control (C.tide own rooted) l.s.d. (P = 0.05)

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Rootstock diameter (mm)

Scion diameter (mm)

Fresh weight (g/plant)

Dry weight (g/plant)

Leaf number (leaf/plant)

Leaf area (cm2)

7.7 7.6 6.3 7.7 8.3 9.6 10.9 10.9 7.0 6.3 5.9

7.0 6.9 6.4 6.4 6.8 7.1 7.6 8.0 6.2 7.7 5.9

82.68 93.38 46.78 97.81 99.65 140.09 153.72 137.47 81.01 68.64 64.59

8.82 8.81 5.66 9.80 10.51 14.69 11.86 12.37 5.86 8.72 4.44

30.75 29.09 20.14 28.50 34.33 36.91 36.72 40.75 30.51 34.25 16.54

59.38 53.31 41.08 59.91 63.99 67.65 70.08 88.87 49.45 49.06 54.79

1.2

0.7

28.05

1.38

2.61

4.54

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Table 4.


Diameter of rootstocks and scion hypocotyls, plant dry and fresh weights, leaf number and leaf area of control and grafted plant at 50 days after transplanting (see Table 1 for full rootstock name)

Rootstock

Rootstock diameter (mm)

Scion diameter (mm)

Fresh weight (g/plant)

Dry weight (g/plant)

Leaf number (leaf/plant)

Leaf area (cm2)

C.tide–FRG C.tide–EMP C.tide–216 C.tide–LSC C.tide–SK C.tide–CMO C.tide–CMA C.tide–GT C.tide–P360 C.tide–ST Control (C.tide own-rooted)

12.1 11.6 11.2 12.8 11.6 14.7 14.7 14.1 12.0 13.8 9.9

12.1 11.4 12.4 11.6 12.9 13.5 13.9 14.3 10.5 12.8 9.9

1026 1161 989 1147 1278 1211 1213 1330 539 1210 535

90.0 103.5 77.0 104.3 100.6 105.3 107.4 140.0 70.3 117.1 49.6

186 228 209 214 225 204 213 287 173 198 109

108.8 109.5 98.7 122.0 111.6 96.4 99.3 134.9 84.0 105.4 85.9

l.s.d. (P = 0.05)

1.56

1.56

133

9.54

12.97

12.11

produced the highest number of leaves (287 leaves/plant). Leaf area was also significantly influenced by rootstock. Grafted plants had larger leaf areas than control plants except for P360. The largest leaf area was measured in the combination of C.tide–GT (134.9 cm2) whereas the smallest leaf area was measured in control plants and combination of C.tide–P360 (85.9 cm2 and 84.0 cm2, respectively). It has been reported that grafting promotes vegetative growth at different levels dependent on rootstock characteristics (Jeong 1986; Kim and Lee 1989; Itagi 1992; Ito 1991). Promoted vigor and vegetative growth was explained by the resistance to soilborne diseases (Asworth 1985; Lee 1994), tolerance to adverse soil conditions (Behboudian et al. 1986; Walker et al. 1987; Picchioni et al. 1990; Bavaresco et al. 1991; Sudahono and Rouse 1994), increased water and plant nutrient uptake (Kato and Lou 1989; Ruiz and Romero 1999) and augmented endogenous hormone production (Zijlstra et al. 1994). In early studies,

influence of rootstocks on water and plant nutrients uptake was ascribed to the physical characteristics of the root system. Effect of rootstock was principally attributed to physical characteristics, such as lateral and vertical development that promoted the uptake of water and inorganic nutrients (Castle and Krezdorn 1975). In agreement with previous studies (Oda et al. 1993), survival rate changed depending on rootstock and scion combination, vegetative growth was significantly affected by rootstocks and grafted plants produced higher fresh and dry weight. Grafting also caused an increase in leaf area and leaf number. The vigorous root system of rootstocks is often capable of absorbing water and plant nutrients more efficiently than scion roots and serves as a good supplier of endogenous hormones (Heo 1991; Jang 1992; Kato and Lou 1989). Cucurbitaceous crops have significant amounts of xylem sap containing fairly high concentrations of minerals, organic substances and hormones such as cytokinin and gibberellins

Table 5. Total yield, mean fruit weight, number of fruits per plant and soluble solid contents of watermelons grafted onto different rootstocks (see Table 1 for full rootstock name) Treatment C.tide–FRG C.tide–EMP C.tide–216 C.tide–LSC C.tide–SK C.tide–CMO C.tide–CMA C.tide–GT C.tide–P360 C.tide–ST Control (C.tide own-rooted) l.s.d. (P = 0.05)

Total fruit yield (kg/m2)

Fruit weight (kg)

Number of fruit per plant

Soluble solid contents (%)

8.98 9.64 8.20 11.31 13.26 2.86 1.92 8.41 1.89 5.70 6.43

7.58 7.23 7.26 7.35 8.80 2.03 3.14 5.76 5.75 5.65 5.80

1.6 2.0 1.5 2.2 2.4 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.5

9.3 9.5 9.8 9.1 9.3 7.5 8.1 9.6 7.9 9.3 9.5

1.54

2.045

0.21

1.78

Different rootstock effects on watermelon

(Biles et al. 1989; Jang et al. 1992; Masuda et al. 1981). Grafted plants on vigorous rootstocks can uptake more plant nutrients and utilise them more efficiently than ungrafted plants (Ruiz and Romero 1999). Results of total yield, fruit weight, number of fruit per plant and soluble solids content of fruit juice are presented in Table 5. Total yield was significantly affected by rootstock. Lagenaria type rootstocks produced higher yield than control and Cucurbita type rootstocks except the combination of C.tide–GT. The highest yield was obtained from SK with 13.26 kg/m2 while the lowest yield was recorded in the graft combination of C.tide–P360 with 1.89 kg/m2. While control plants produced 6.43 kg/m2 yield, all Lagenaria type rootstocks produced 27–106% higher yields compared with the control. Plants grafted onto Lagenaria type rootstocks produced larger fruit than control plants and the plants grafted on Cucurbita type rootstocks. The largest fruit was obtained from the combination of C.tide–SK with 8.80 kg while the control weighed 5.80 kg. The smallest fruit was obtained from the combination of C.tide–CMO and C.tide–CMA with 2.03 and 3.14 kg, respectively. Fruits from plants grafted onto Cucurbita hybrid rootstocks weighed about 6.00 kg. Number of fruits per plant was also significantly affected by rootstocks. Plants grafted on Lagenaria type rootstocks and control plants had more fruit than plants grafted on Cucurbita type rootstocks. The highest number of fruits per plant was produced by the combination of C.tide–SK and C.tide–LSC with 2.4 and 2.2 fruit per plant, while control plants produced 1.5 fruit per plant. Plants grafted on Cucurbita type rootstocks had about 1 fruit per plant. Soluble solids content of fruit juice was affected by rootstock as well. All grafted and control plants showed similar soluble solids content except the C.tide–CMA (8.1%), C.tide–P360 (7.9%) and C.tide–CMO (7.5%) combinations. In Cucurbita type rootstocks, grafted plants had higher vegetative growth parameters but had lower yield and quality parameters due to incompatibilities appearing towards the end of the growing period. Examination of the vascular bundle on wilted plants showed that wilting was not due to Fusarium in grafted plants but in control plants (Yetisir et al. 2002). In plants in incompatible combinations about 20–80% of the plants wilted, cupped and died before fruit reached its maximum size (data not shown). Thus, Cucurbita type rootstocks produced lower yield and poor fruit quality than control and Lagenaria rootstocks. Many authors have stated that rootstocks promoted yield in grafted plants (Nielsen and Kappel 1996; Ruiz and Romero 1999; Chouka and Jebari 1999). These effects can be explained by the interaction of some or all of the following phenomenons: increased water and plant nutrient absorption (Kato and Lou 1989), augmented endogenous hormone production (Zijlstra et al. 1994), enhanced scion vigor (Leoni et al. 1990; Ito 1991), resistance to soil pathogens (Lee


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1994), tolerance to low soil temperature (Den Nijs and Smeets 1987; Tachibana 1989) and salinity tolerance (Zerki and Parsons 1992). In our study, plant growth was significantly affected by rootstocks and plant vigor was closely related to fruit yield except in those that had incompatibility problems. Additive effects of the processes mentioned above can also help to explain yield increases. The results of our study showed that plant survival rates of grafted watermelon varied depending on rootstock characteristics. Lagenaria type rootstocks showed good compatibility with watermelon while Cucurbita type rootstocks exhibited lower graft affinity and incompatibility determined just after grafting or towards the end of the vegetative growth periods. Plant growth and yield were also significantly influenced by rootstocks. Grafted plants produced higher fresh and dry matter than the control. Grafted plants on Lagenaria rootstocks produced overall 100% more yield than the control. Lagenaria rootstocks, in particular SK and LSC, are suitable rootstocks capable of significantly improving plant vigor and productivity in watermelon. Acknowledgments This study was supported by Research Fund of Cukurova University and the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (Tarp 2410). References Anon. (2001) ‘FAO statistical database.’ Available at: www.fao.org.com (Verified May 2002) Ashita E (1927) ‘Grafting of watermelons.’ Korea (Chosun) Agr. Nwsl., 1, 9. [in Japanese] Ashworth J (1985) ‘Verticillium resistance rootstocks research.’ Annual Report of Californian Pistachio Industry. Frenso, CA. pp. 54–56. Balaz F (1982) Possibilities of grafting certain watermelon cultivars on Lagenaria vulgaris to prevent Fusarium wilt. Hort. Abst. 1999. Vol. 60, No. 5. Bavaresco M, Fregoni M, Fraschini P (1991) Investigation on iron uptake and reduction by excised roots of different grapevine rootstocks and a V. vinifera cultivar. Plant and Soil 130, 109–113. Beadle CL (1985) Plant growth analysis. In ‘Techniques in bioproductivity and photosynthesis’. (Ed. J Cooms) pp. 20–25. (Pergamon Press: Oxford, UK) Biles CI, Martyn RD, Wilson HD (1989) Isozymes and general proteins from various watermelon cultivars and tissue types. HortScience 24, 810–812.Behboudian NM, Walker RR, Torokfalvy E (1986) Effects of water stress and salinity on photosythesis of pistachio. Scientia Horticulturae 29, 251–261. Castle WS, Krezdorn AH (1975) Effects of citrus rootstocks on root distribution and leaf mineral content of Orlando Tangelo trees. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 100, 1–4. Chouka AS, Jebari H (1999) Effect of grafting on watermelon on vegetative and root development, production and fruit quality. Acta Horticulturae 492, 85–93. Den Nijs APM, Smeets L (1987) Analysis of difference in growth of cucumber genotypes under low light conditions in relation to night temperature. Euphytica 36, 19–32.

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Received 21 May 2002, accepted 8 April 2003

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