Abstract
Grafting is a widely used practice in fruit-bearing vegetables. However, why grafting affects plant growth, fruit yield, and quality, especially from the aspect of mineral nutrition, remains unclear. In this study, watermelon cultivar ‘Zaojia 8424’ was grafted onto bottle gourd ‘Jingxinzhen 1’ (Lagenaria siceraria) and pumpkin ‘Qingyanzhen 1’ (Cucurbita maxima × C. moschata). Non-grafted plants were used as the control. Results show that rootstock grafting significantly increases plant growth and single fruit weight of watermelon. Watermelon grafted onto rootstocks, especially pumpkin, exhibits significantly higher root volume, root surface area, and number of root tips and forks in comparison with non-grafted plants. Fruit flesh, rind firmness, and rind thickness were enhanced by grafting. However, fruit soluble solids and taste significantly decreased in plants grafted onto pumpkin. The total uptake (mg ⋅ plant−1) and concentration (mg ⋅ g−1 DW) of N, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, and Mn in root, stem, leaf, fruit rind, and flesh were generally higher in grafted plants compared to non-grafted ones, especially for N of pumpkin rootstock-grafted plants. The total uptake of nutrients of plants grafted onto bottle gourd and pumpkin was increased by 30.41% and 49.14% at fruit development stage and by 21.33% and 47.46% at fruit maturation stage, respectively, compared with non-grafted plants. We concluded that watermelon grafting onto suitable rootstocks can increase the uptake of mineral nutrition, especially for N in the pumpkin rootstock grafted plants, thereby affecting plant growth, fruit yield, and quality.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Rootstock grafting significantly increases watermelon plant growth and single fruit weight.
- Taxon
- watermelon
Citrullus lanatuse0 - Treatment
- rootstock graftinge0
- Outcome
- plant growth and single fruit weighte0
- Direction
- increasese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“rootstock grafting significantly increases plant growth and single fruit weight of watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Rootstock grafting, especially onto pumpkin, increases watermelon root volume, surface area, tips and forks versus nongrafted plants.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatuse0
- Treatment
- grafted onto rootstockse0
- Outcome
- root volume, root surface area, and number of root tips and forkse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- especially pumpkine0
- Comparator
- non-grafted plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Watermelon grafted onto rootstocks, especially pumpkin, exhibits significantly higher root volume, root surface area, and number of root tips and forks in comparison with non-grafted plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Grafting enhances fruit flesh and rind firmness and rind thickness.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- graftinge0
- Outcome
- Fruit flesh, rind firmness, and rind thicknesse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fruit flesh, rind firmness, and rind thickness were enhanced by grafting”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Pumpkin grafting significantly reduces fruit soluble solids and taste.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- grafted onto pumpkine0
- Outcome
- fruit soluble solids and tastee0
- Direction
- decreasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fruit soluble solids and taste significantly decreased in plants grafted onto pumpkin”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Grafted plants generally have higher total uptake and concentration of six nutrients across root, stem, leaf, rind and flesh.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- root, stem, leaf, fruit rind, and fleshe0
- Treatment
- grafted plantse0
- Outcome
- total uptake (mg ⋅ plant−1) and concentration (mg ⋅ g−1 DW) of N, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, and Mne0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- especially for N of pumpkin rootstock-grafted plantse0
- Comparator
- non-grafted onese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total uptake (mg ⋅ plant−1) and concentration (mg ⋅ g−1 DW) of N, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, and Mn in root, stem, leaf, fruit rind, and flesh were generally higher in grafted plants compared to non-grafted ones, especially for N of pumpkin rootstock-grafted plants”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Bottle gourd grafting increases total nutrient uptake by 30.41% during fruit development.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- fruit development stagee0
- Treatment
- grafted onto bottle gourde0
- Outcome
- total uptake of nutrientse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 30.41%e0
- Comparator
- non-grafted plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total uptake of nutrients of plants grafted onto bottle gourd and pumpkin was increased by 30.41% and 49.14% at fruit development stage and by 21.33% and 47.46% at fruit maturation stage, respectively, compared with non-grafted plants”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Pumpkin grafting increases total nutrient uptake by 49.14% during fruit development.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- fruit development stagee0
- Treatment
- pumpkine0
- Outcome
- total uptake of nutrientse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 49.14%e0
- Comparator
- non-grafted plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total uptake of nutrients of plants grafted onto bottle gourd and pumpkin was increased by 30.41% and 49.14% at fruit development stage and by 21.33% and 47.46% at fruit maturation stage, respectively, compared with non-grafted plants”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Bottle gourd grafting increases total nutrient uptake by 21.33% during fruit maturation.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- fruit maturation stagee0
- Treatment
- grafted onto bottle gourde0
- Outcome
- total uptake of nutrientse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 21.33%e0
- Comparator
- non-grafted plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total uptake of nutrients of plants grafted onto bottle gourd and pumpkin was increased by 30.41% and 49.14% at fruit development stage and by 21.33% and 47.46% at fruit maturation stage, respectively, compared with non-grafted plants”
t0“Watermelon”
Claim · model-written summary
Pumpkin grafting increases total nutrient uptake by 47.46% during fruit maturation.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Organ / stage
- fruit maturation stagee0
- Treatment
- pumpkine0
- Outcome
- total uptake of nutrientse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 47.46%e0
- Comparator
- non-grafted plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total uptake of nutrients of plants grafted onto bottle gourd and pumpkin was increased by 30.41% and 49.14% at fruit development stage and by 21.33% and 47.46% at fruit maturation stage, respectively, compared with non-grafted plants”
t0“Watermelon”
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