Research Information System
Cucurbitaceae 2010, United States Of America, 1 - 04 October 2010, vol.1, no.1, pp.315-317
Fruit bearing vegetables have been grafted for many years in East Asia to solve problems associated with intensive cultivation using limited agricultural land. Grafting in vegetables was introduced to Turkey in the late 20th century. The first experiment on grafting was conducted on tomato in Turkey in 1989 and following years in watermelon. Watermelon was grafted onto different rootstocks against soilborne diseases in Cukurova University in 1998. Commercial grafted vegetable seedling production was started after 2000 by grafting watermelon and tomato. The purposes of grafting are resistance to soilborne diseases and nematodes and increasing yield. Currently, watermelon and tomato are mainly grafted species in Turkey. Some experimental studies have been also carried out on melon and cucumber in both public and private research institutes. At present, over 30 million grafted watermelon seedlings are estimated to be used annually in Turkey. Several commercial and scientific trials have been conducted for promoting use of grafted watermelon seedlings in both protected cultivation and open fields. Commercial scale grafted seedling production units were established and desirable number of grafted seedling can be produced in tomato and watermelon. Nevertheless, further detailed studies on some areas such as suitable plant density, fertilization, irrigation, harvest time and fruit quality are needed. In this review, history and current status of watermelon grafting in Turkey was summarized.