Contribution of roots to growth and physiology of watermelon grafted onto rooted and unrooted seedlings of various bottle gourd rootstocks

Year 2019, , 211 - 216, 24.12.2019

Abdullah Ulaş , Alim Aydın Firdes Ulas , Halit Yetişir

https://doi.org/10.31015/jaefs.2019.4.2

Cited By: 2

Abstract

A
hydroponic experiment was conducted between April and May in 2018 by using an
aerated Deep Water Culture (DWC) technique in a controlled growth chamber of
Erciyes University, Agricultural Faculty in Kayseri, Turkey. To evaluate
contribution of roots for growth and physiology a commercial watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and
Nakai] cultivar (Crimson Tide F₁) was grafted onto two different
bottle gourd (Lageneria siceraria)
genotypes (39-01 and 47-02) and one commercial rootstock genotype (Argenterio)
by using two propagation techniques (unrooted or rooted seedlings). Plants were
grown in 8 L pots filled continuously aerated nutrient solution, in Randomized
Block Design with 4 replications for 6 weeks. Results indicated that shoot and
root fresh (FW) and dry (DW) weights, main stem length, total leaf area, leaf
chlorophyll index (SPAD), photosynthetic activity of leaves of watermelon were
significantly (P<0.001) affected by rooting type, genotype and genotype x rooting
type interaction. Irrespective of rooting type, the grafted genotypes usually
showed significantly higher performance in growth and physiological development
than ungrafted control plants. Among graft combinations, the highest growth
performance was shown by C.Tide/Argenterio while the lowest was shown by
C.Tide/39-01. In terms of rooting type, watermelon plants usually showed a
better performance in growth and physiological development when they were used
as rooted seedlings compared to unrooted ones. Grafting watermelon onto
unrooted seedlings caused a significant reduction in shoot FW by 21.6%, in
shoot DW by 12.8%, in root FW by 29.5%, in root DW by 33.7%, in stem length by
11.5%, in total leaf area by 26.3%, in SPAD by 11.2% and in photosynthesis by 18.2%.
All these clearly indicate that roots are playing very essential role in
contribution to growth and development of plants, particularly at the beginning
of growth stage. Therefore, our study suggested that grafting with unrooted
seedlings is not a useful application strategy for watermelon plants grown
under hydroponic conditions, even when they are grafted onto vigorous
rootstocks.

Keywords

Grafting, Genotype, Rootless cuttings, DWC, Hydroponic

Thanks

We thank to all staff members of the Plant Nutritional Physiology Laboratory (PNPL) of Erciyes University, Turkey for the technical supports and supplying all facilities during the experiments.

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