Graft compatibility and anatomical studies in watermelon with interspecific Cucurbita hybrid rootstocks Tamilselvi N.A*, Arumugam T.1 Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India 1Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam- 628 252, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding author: tamilaaru@gmail.com
Online published on 1 October, 2022. Abstract An experiment was conducted to examine the performance of Cucurbita interspecific hybrid rootstocks for graft compatibility with watermelon scions at morphological, physiological and cellular level. Hole insertion grafting and splice/side/one cotyledon grafting methods were attempted in this study. The highest graft success of 89.78, 85.35 and 82.13% was noticed in watermelon scion (Dragon king) grafted onto CM 44 x CMa 52 rootstock followed by that onto CM 28 x CMa 52 rootstock with 80.45, 77.39 and 73.35% at 7, 15 and 21 days after grafting, respectively. Among the two grafting methods, cotyledon/splice/side grafting found to be more suitable for watermelon grafting than hole insertion grafting (HIG). The results on antioxidant enzyme estimation revealed that compatible watermelon graft combinations exhibit a stronger resistance to oxidative damage resulting from grafting. The results on histological study revealed that necrotic layer existed earlier in compatible graft combinations. Hence, the variation in the morphological, physiological and cellular levels may provide valuable information to understand the graft compatibility and incompatibility of watermelon grafted seedlings at an early stage. Top Keywords Citrullus lanatus, Splice/side grafting, Hole insertion grafting, Histology, Antioxidant enzymes. Top |