The Hypocotyls Traits of Salt Tolerant Winter Squash and Pumpkin Rootstocks and the Determination of Grafting Compatibility With Cucumber

Abstract

Grafted seedlings recently are being used widely for vegetable grown in many countries of the world. Winter squash and pumpkins were recommended for use of rootstocks for the grafted watermelon, melon and cucumber growing in the saline soils. In this study, the promising salt tolerant winter squash and pumpkin rootstock lines were used and grafting compatibility, survival rates for grafted cucumber seedling was evaluated. Gordion cv. (cucumber) was used as a scion. In this study, hypocotyls traits and grafting success ratios were also determined. The longest hypocotyl (29.15 mm) was recorded in G14 rootstock while G40 had the shortest (15.15 mm). The highest hypocotyl diameter (4.81 mm) was determined in G40 genotype. Grafting success of these rootstocks were found between 50.0-87.0%. It was determined that the grafting success of G31 (87%) pumpkin genotypes, G15 (70%) interspecific genotypes with Gordion cucumber cultivar was the highest. The grafted cucumber genotypes gave the highest vegetative growth compared to ungrafted control seedlings. To conclude, G31 and G15 rootstock candidates were found to be the first local salt-tolerant rootstocks for cucumber breeding studies. These findings showed that selected promising salt tolerant rootstock genotypes will be used for commercial grafted cucumber seedling production in near future. © 2016, Centenary University. All rights reserved.