Comparison of Root Development, Photosynthetic Characteristics, Growth, and Yield of Seedling and Grafted Tomatoes in the Long-Term Cultivation of Venlo Greenhouse

This experiment verified the effect of grafting cultivation by comparing the fruit yield, above ground and underground growth, and photosynthetic rate of seedling and grafted tomato long-term cultivation in a glass greenhouse.The cultivar of seedling tomato (CON, Control) was Daphnis, the scion cultivar of the grafted tomato (GT, Grafted Tomato) was Daphnis and the rootstock cultivar was Tomagralong.They were planted on the cocopeat in the Venlo greenhouse.The daily temperature inside the greenhouse was maintained at 20-25C and the night temperature was at 15-17C.The amounts of nutrient solution were supplied in proportion to solar radiation with the PBG nutrient solution composition set to EC 2.0-2.7 dSm -1 and pH 5.5-5.8.The longest root length, fresh root weight, and ratio of cross-sectional root area to medium were 66%, 33%, and 155% higher in GT than in CON, respectively, indicating that the underground part of grafted tomato was developed than non-graft tomato.As a result of the medium and drainage investigation, it was predicted that the roots of grafted tomato absorbed more nutrients and moisture than non-graft tomato.There was no significant difference in the growth of shoots between treatment, but the maximum photosynthetic rate was 12.3 molm -2 s -1 and 15.2 molm -2 s -1 for CON and GT, respectively.The total harvest was 12.0 kgm -2 and 13.5 kgm -2 for CON and GT, respectively.As the results of the investigations, it was confirmed that grafting tomato is more advantageous for producing tomatoes in long-term cultivation compared to non-grafting tomato.