BACKGROUND AND AIMS The primary physiological mechanism influencing tree vigour in size-controlling rootstocks of peach has been related to the hydraulic conductance of the rootstock. Differences in rootstock hydraulic conductance are a function of rootstock xylem vessel characteristics. The present research examined whether the vigour and xylem vessel characteristics of the rootstock influence...

Previous work has suggested that peach scion cultivar exerts a significant influence on incidence of peach tree short life (PTSL) in trees budded onto Nemaguard and Flordaguard seedling peach rootstocks. If this influence is consistent across a range of rootstocks then the influence of scion cultivar might offer a new tool for the management of PTSL. Growers could minimize losses on those sites...

We investigated hydraulic conductance characteristics and associated dry matter production and distribution of peach trees grafted on different rootstocks growing in the field. A single scion genotype was grown on a low ('K146-43'), an intermediate ('Hiawatha') and a high ('Nemaguard') vigor rootstock. 'K146-43' and 'Hiawatha' rootstocks had 27 and 52% lower mean leaf-specific hydraulic conduct...

Grafting is a well-established practice to facilitate asexual propagation in horticultural and agricultural crops. It has become a method for studying molecular aspects of root-to-shoot and/or shoot-to-root signaling events. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in gene expression between the organs of the scion and rootstock of a homograft (Arabidopsis thaliana). MapMan an...

The development of water stress resistant lines of commercial tomato by breeding or genetic engineering is possible, but will take considerable time before commercial varieties are available for production. However, grafting commercial tomato lines on drought resistant rootstock may produce drought tolerant commercial tomato lines much more rapidly. Due to changing climates and the need for com...

Grafting is an easier and faster approach than plant breeding to take advantage of both existing resistant plants, especially wild cultivars, and high-bred cultivars. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in leaf photosynthetic capacity of a hybrid eggplant Solanum melongena L., cv. Rima (R), widely used in Greece] when grafted on tomato rootstocks known for their resistance to n...

1 Principal Investigator of Horticulture and Curator, USDA Naitonal Clonal Germplasm Repository for Asimina species, Atwood Research Facility, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY 40601-2355. To whom reprint requests should be addressed. 2 Co-Investigator of Horticulture, Atwood Research Facility, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY 40601-2355 Abstract The pawpaw [Asimina triloba (L.) ...

Use of dwarfing rootstocks has dramatically increased the profitability of fruit production by reducing production costs, reduced chemical use and higher density plantings. Despite the importance of rootstock-induced dwarfing, the cause of this phenomenon is not known. Using two commercially available graft combinations consisting of a sweet cherry scion, 'Bing', on a dwarfing rootstock (Gi5) o...

INTRODUCTION Collectively, a team of researchers (Lindow, Dandekar, and Gilchrist) identified, constructed and advanced to field evaluation five novel DNA constructs (Table 1) that, when engineered into grapevines, suppress symptoms of Pierce’s Disease (PD) by a) reducing the titer of Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) in the plant, b) reducing systemic spread of the bacteria or c) blocking Xf’s ability t...

A grafting robot based on cleft grafting method has been developed to improve efficiency of grafting solanaceae vegetables. This robot consists of four parts including a clamping manipulator and carrying, cutting, feeding mechanisms. These not only enable the robot to conveniently perform clamping, carrying, positioning, cutting, joining, and binding rootstock and scion, but also improve the gr...