Research Shows Grafting Can Help Fight Foliar Diseases

By Growing Produce Staff|June 10, 2010

It’s not uncommon to use grafting – the process of fusing the rootstock of one plant variety to the top, or scion, of another plant variety – to strengthen resistance against soilborne diseases. But Ohio State University researchers have discovered that the method can also fight off foliar diseases.

Brian McSpadden-Gardener, a microbial ecologist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, found that grafted tomato plants appear to be more resistant to foliar diseases than ungrafted tomato plants of the same genotype. McSpadden-Gardener’s work is part of a larger three-year multi-state project that is exploring the use of grafting to improve tomato production, specifically in high tunnels and organic production.

“We chose tomato because it is susceptible to a number of field stresses, is very important economically, and responds to grafting,” said Matt Kleinhenz, an Ohio State University Extension vegetable crops specialist.

OARDC researchers involved in the project include Kleinhenz, McSpadden-Gardener, geneticist David Francis, and plant pathologist Sally Miller. The group genetically bred 46 rootstocks and grafted them to the tops of two popular tomato cultivars: ‘Cherokee Purple’ and ‘Celebrity’. They then compared field and high tunnel grafted tomatoes to non-grafted tomatoes and found that in both production systems, grafted tomatoes out-yielded non-grafted tomatoes anywhere from 5% to 30%.

The yield increases were greatest in the presence of soilborne diseases and in drought conditions. Click here for more information.