Assessment of heterografts and homografts for compatibility, morpho-phenology and yield performance of tomato scion cv. Kashi Aman

A research study was carried out at Vegetable Research Centre, Maharajpur, Department of Horticulture, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur (M.P.), during the Rabi season of 2023-2024, consisting of six different rootstocks of brinjal and tomato, and cleft grafting with the common scion tomato cv. Kashi Aman. Thus, the treatments encompassed one ungrafted and six grafted variations evaluated for graft compatibility, morpho-phenological and yield attributing characters, including correlation among them. Results revealed significant differences in graft success rates with Tomato cv. Kashi Aman (scion) grafted on Brinjal cv. Jawahar Baigan 20-14 (rootstock) exhibited the highest graft success, i.e., 87.50%. Rootstock-scion interaction between brinjal cv. Jawahar Baigan 20-14 and tomato cv. Kashi Aman had significantly influenced morpho-phenological parameters, producing the highest number of primary branches (15.67), the maximum number of inflorescences per plant (35.87) and the earliest picking of fruits (70.67 DAT). Tomato cv. Kashi Aman grafted on Tomato cv. SPS 1 produced the maximum number of flowers per inflorescence (5.79). Yield parameters showed significant improvement through grafting with Tomato cv. Kashi Aman grafted on Brinjal cv. Jawahar Baigan 20-14 producing the highest number of fruits per plant (35.20), fruit set percentage (78.85%), yield per plant (3.48 kg) and yield per hectare (430.78 q). Graft success positively correlated with vegetative growth and higher fruit yield, while negatively correlated with early flowering and harvesting. Fruit yield was strongly linked to graft success, primary branch numbers, and early flowering and fruiting traits, emphasizing the benefits of using brinjal rootstocks for enhanced growth and yield attributes. Hence, Jawahar Baigan 20-14 could be better utilized as a potential rootstock to enhance the productivity of tomato.