Grafting Eggplant, Tomato, and Watermelon to Manage
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GRAFTING EGGPLANT, TOMATO, AND WATERMELON TO MANAGE VERTICILLIUM WILT CAUSED BY VERTICILLIUM DAHLIAE By SACHA J. JOHNSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HORTICULTURE WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture AUGUST 2012 To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the thesis of SACHA J. JOHNSON find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ____________________________________ Carol A. Miles, Ph.D., Chair ____________________________________ Debbie A. Inglis, Ph.D. ____________________________________ Xin Zhao, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Carol Miles, Debbie Inglis, and Xin Zhao for being a great advisory committee. Their excellence as women scientists has been an inspiration to me in my studies. Under their guidance, I have grown both professionally and personally in the past two years. I would also like to acknowledge Alan Schreiber and George Clough for their integral roles in this research. Thanks also to Sage Haegen and Sam Pollock at the Columbia Basin on- farm sites for their cooperation. This project would not have been possible without the help of the staff at the WSU Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center (NWREC) including Patti Kreider, Jonathan Roozen, Babette Gundersen, Karen Hasenoehrl, Carolyn Klismith, Gale Sterrett, and many others. Thanks to Karen Hills, Avi Alcala, Marianne Powell, Emily Gatch, Jeremy Cowan, and all the WSU NWREC graduate students for their friendship and moral support. I would like to acknowledge the financial support that made this research possible. Thank you to the following funders for their generosity: the Washington State Commission on Pesticide Registration, the WSU Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Organic Farming Research Foundation, the WSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, the Pacific Northwest Vegetable Association, and the Northwest Agriculture Research Foundation. I extend a special thanks to Jacky King for her patience and attention to detail and for her enormous help in keeping up with grant applications and reports. Thanks to my parents and Pat for their constant love and support these past two years and especially to Pat for listening to me each day, every day, for the past two years. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my little Vashti Lynn, the sweetest bundle of joy that ever blessed a graduate student. iii GRAFTING EGGPLANT, TOMATO, AND WATERMELON TO MANAGE VERTICILLIUM WILT CAUSED BY VERTICILLIUM DAHLIAE Abstract By Sacha J. Johnson, M.S. Washington State University August 2012 Chair: Carol A. Miles Verticillium wilt, predominantly caused by V. dahliae, is a significant soilborne disease on cucurbit and solanaceous crops in Washington State. This study evaluated grafting to manage Verticillium wilt in eggplant, tomato and watermelon. Grafted plants are placed in a healing chamber to facilitate graft union formation. However little is known about impact of healing chamber design on survival of grafted plants. The effect of three healing chamber designs on the survival of grafted eggplant, tomato, and watermelon was evaluated. A humidifier did not increase relative humidity or graft survival, and smaller healing chamber dimensions maintained consistently higher relative humidity. Grafted tomato survival was not affected by healing chamber design, indicating that grafted tomato is tolerant of lower relative humidity during graft union formation. Grafted eggplant, tomato, and watermelon were also evaluated for yield, fruit quality, and disease resistance in open field production with confirmed V. dahliae soil populations at two locations: an irrigated dryland area in the Columbia Basin and a high annual rainfall area in western Washington. Each crop was non-grafted, self-grafted and grafted onto two commercially available rootstocks chosen for possible V. dahliae resistance as available. Eggplant was grafted onto ‘Beaufort’ interspecific tomato hybrid and S. aethiopicum, tomato was grafted onto ‘Beaufort’ and ‘Maxifort’ interspecific tomato hybrids, and watermelon was grafted onto ‘Emphasis’ bottle gourd and ‘Strong Tosa’ interspecific squash hybrid. Rootstock-grafted, iv non-grafted, and self-grafted plants had equivalent yield, fruit size, and fruit quality for all three crops. ‘Beaufort’-grafted eggplant had reduced Verticillium wilt severity as compared to non- grafted, self-grafted, and S. aethiopicum-grafted eggplant. V. dahliae was isolated from all treatments including ‘Beaufort’-grafted eggplant. Verticillium wilt symptoms were not observed in any tomato treatments at either location in either year. Non-grafted and self-grafted watermelon plants had significantly greater Verticillium wilt severity than ‘Emphasis’ and ‘Strong Tosa’-grafted watermelon in western Washington both years; but again, V. dahliae was isolated from all treatments. Plant growth was increased and Verticillium wilt severity was reduced in ‘Beaufort’-grafted eggplant and ‘Emphasis’ and ‘Strong Tosa’-grafted watermelon, indicating these rootstocks may be partially resistant to V. dahliae and may effectively control Verticillium wilt. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……………………………………………………………………………….. iii ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………........... iv LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………………………......... ix LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………………...… xii CHAPTER 1: Grafting eggplant, tomato, and watermelon to manage Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae. 1. JUSTIFICATION …………………………………………………………………………… 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………………… 5 3. LITERATURE CITED ……………………………………………………………………... 18 CHAPTER 2: Effect of healing chamber design on the survival of grafted eggplant, tomato, and watermelon. 1. ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………...… 26 2. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………......… 27 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS …………………………………………………………... 29 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………… 33 5. LITERATURE CITED ……………………………………………………………………... 39 6. TABLES AND FIGURES ……………………………………………………………..…… 41 CHAPTER 3: Plant growth, yield and Verticillium wilt reactions of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) grafted onto S. aethiopicum and S. lycopersicum × S. habrochaites rootstocks. 1. ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………...… 47 2. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………......… 48 vi 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS …………………………………………………………... 51 4. RESULTS ………………………………………………………………………………..… 60 5. DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………………………… 65 6. LITERATURE CITED …………………………………………………………………….. 69 7. TABLES AND FIGURES ……………………………………………………………….… 73 CHAPTER 4: Plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and Verticillium wilt reactions of heirloom tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) grafted onto inter-specific tomato rootstocks in open field production. 1. ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………...… 92 2. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………..…… 93 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS …………………………………………………………... 97 4. RESULTS …………………………...………………………………………..…………… 103 5. DISCUSSION ………………………………………………………………………..…… 107 6. LITERATURE CITED ………………………………………………………………..…... 110 7. TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………………………………………… 115 CHAPTER 5: Plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and Verticillium wilt reaction of grafted watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) grafted onto bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and interspecific squash (Cucurbita maxima × Cucurbita moschata) rootstocks in open field production. 1. ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………….… 124 2. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………....… 125 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS …………………………………………………………. 129 4. RESULTS ……………………………………………………………………………….… 136 5. DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………….……………………. 139 6. LITERATURE CITED …………………………………………………………………..... 142 vii 7. TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………………………………………… 147 viii LIST OF TABLES 1. Description of materials, misting treatment, dimensions, and internal volume of the three healing chamber designs ……………………………………………………………………………...…. 39 2. Relative humidity [RH; mean ± SE (%)] and temperature [mean ± SE (°C)] within three healing chambers on day 2 after grafting eggplant, tomato, and watermelon plants. The study was conducted in a greenhouse with temperature and RH of 20.2-24.8 °C and 29- 68.4% and a 12-h photoperiod using 03-HID lights …………………………………… 40 3. Effect of vegetable crop type and healing chamber design on graft survival 6 to 14 d after grafting eggplant, tomato, and watermelon plants. The study was conducted in a greenhouse with temperature and relative humidity (RH) settings of 20.2-24.8 °C and 29- 68.4% and a 12-h photoperiod using 03-HID lights …...………………………………. 41 4. Mean plant dry weight of non-grafted and self-grafted ‘Epic’ eggplant as well as ‘Epic’ eggplant grafted on ‘Beaufort’ interspecific tomato and Solanum aethiopicum rootstocks in open field production and soil infested with Verticillium dahliae in Eltopia and Mount Vernon, WA in 2010 and 2011 ….…………………………………………………...… 72 5. Mean stem diameter (cm) and area under growth progress curve (AUGPC) values for stem diameters of non-grafted and self-grafted eggplant as well as eggplant grafted on ‘Beaufort’ inter-specific tomato hybrid and S. aethiopicum rootstocks in open-field production in Eltopia and Mount Vernon, WA in 2011 ……………………………..… 74 6. Mean plant height (cm) and area under growth progress curve (AUGPC) values for plant heights of non-grafted and self-grafted eggplant as well