The effects of double-stemmed grafted tomato plants on yield and quality of tomato cultivation

Abstract

In this study, the effect of the production of double-stemmed grafted and non-grafted tomato plants on yield and quality was investigated. Android F1 and Torry F1 tomato (S. lycopersicum L.) cultivars were grafted on “Classmate” tomato rootstock, and grafting was doneaccording to one or two stems for treatments. There were 12 plants in each treatment over 4 grafting and 2 varieties and the plants were provided seedling nursery. The number of stems left in tomato seedlings as grafted and non-grafted was taken as the basis. The plants which are consisting of two stems are formed from the cotyledon axillary buds. The grafting in the experiment were created as follows;.1- grafted-double stem: Shoots were formed with the development of cotyledon axillary buds, 2- Non-grafted-double stem: Shoots were formed with the development of cotyledon axillary buds on cultivars, 3- Grafted-single stem and 4- non-grafted-single stem (control) were formed. In the experiment conducted, the highest plant height (167.25 cm) was obtained from the control treatment and the highest stem diameter (16.58 mm) was obtained from the grafted double stem treatment. L and Hue angel values measured in fruit color of treatments were not statistically significant. The highest total soluble solids (4.46%) was obtained from the non-grafted double stem treatment. In terms of total yield, the highest value (12.27 kg m-2) was obtained in the control plants. The effect of double stem in cotyledon axillary buds on grafted tomato cultivation was found statistically significant on yield, and grafting with double stem decreased the yield, as compare to the control treatment.