Research Information System
JOURNAL OF CROP HEALTH, vol.77, pp.1-15, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Vegetable crops amount to 12% of world total agricultural crop production and Solanaceous and Cucurbitaceous vegetable crops amount to the main divide of vegetable crop production. Climate change poses critical threats to agricultural production and ecosystem sustainability. One of the most prominent impacts of these changes is the increasing incidence of drought stress on a global scale. Drought reduces the water uptake capacity of plants, decreases photosynthetic efficiency, and negatively affects physiological processes, leading to significant reductions in agricultural yields. Various strategies have been developed to enhance the drought tolerance of plants, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Among these strategies, grafting, a horticultural technique, offers a promising alternative solution to overcome drought stress’ adverse effects. Grafting with drought-tolerant rootstocks also stands out for its potential to optimize water management, reduce yield losses, root development, and stress tolerance in plants. The evaluation of grafting technology under drought conditions supports water uptake in plants while helping maintain photosynthetic capacity. Grafting can also enhance uptake of nutrients, translocation of water, and osmoregulation, thereby assisting vegetable crops in surviving under drought stress. Vegetable grafting has been done commercially on tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplants, watermelons, muskmelon, and cucumbers to enhance plant tolerance to a type of abiotic conditions, like salinity, drought, waterlogging, high or low temperatures, and heavy metal toxicity, as well as to improve yield and quality. This review aims to present the adverse effects of drought stress at plants and the current status of vegetable grafting for drought management using resistant rootstocks. Moreover, we summarized all possible the latest knowledge related to the response of grafted vegetables using different rootstocks on improving plant growth, water use efficiency, photosynthetic capacity, yield and quality. This information may encourage researchers and vegetable farmers to increase vegetable yield and quality under drought stress conditions. We conclude the review with the potential of vegetable grafting to maintain and enhance productivity in agricultural systems under drought stress is demonstrated.