Vegetable Grafting

1Introduction to vegetable grafting 1.1Importance and use of vegetable grafting 1.2The process of vegetable grafting 1.3Problems associated with vegetable grafting 1.4Conclusions 2Genetic resources for rootstock breeding 2.1Genetic diversity 2.2Genebank collections 2.3Current usage of genetic material in rootstocks 2.4Germplasm collection of other plant families 2.5Concluding remarks 3Rootstock breeding: current practices and future technologies 3.1Introduction 3.2Stacking traits: meiosis or grafting or both? 3.3Developing stable, core collections of germplasm for breeding 3.4Deploying genetic diversity for rootstocks 3.5Grafting as a tool for genetic hybridisation and chimera production 3.6Selection of improved rootstocks 3.7Transgenic rootstocks 3.8Rootstock registration and commercialization 4Rootstock-scion signalling: key factors mediating scion performance 4.1Introduction 4.2Current knowledge of ionic and chemical signalling between rootstock and scion 4.3Conclusions 5Physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying graft compatibility 5.1Introduction 5.2Anatomical and physiological steps during graft union development 5.3Role of secondary metabolites at the interface in graft incompatibility 5.4Cell-to-cell communication between graft partners 5.5Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in graft union formation and compatibility. 5.6Methods for examining graft union development and compatibility 5.7Conclusions and future perspectives 6Grafting as agro-technology for reducing disease damage 6.1Introduction 6.2The first step: Managing diseases in the nursery 6.3Disease spread from the nursery to the field, the example of powdery mildew of watermelons 6.4Intra- and interspecific grafting and their relations to diseases 6.5Biotic or abiotic stress? Different responses of grafted plants to environmental conditions, the case of "physiological wilt", and germplasm selection for rational breeding 6.6Grafted plants' response to nematodes 6.7Commercial rootstocks and unknown genetics 6.8Different mechanisms involved in disease resistance induced by grafting 6.9Conclusions 7Grafting as a tool to tolerate abiotic stress 7.1Introduction 7.2Temperature stress 7.3Salinity stress 7.4Nutrient stress 7.5Stress induced by heavy metals and metalloids 7.6Stress by adverse soil pH 7.7Drought and flood stress 7.8Conclusions 8Quality of grafted vegetables 8.1What is quality? 8.2Rootstock effects on fruit quality 8.3Effects of grafting on ripening and postharvest behaviour 8.4Bio-physiological processes affecting fruit quality 8.5Conclusion and perspectives 9Practical applications and speciality crops 9.1Establishment of grafted transplant under Mediterranean climate conditions 9.2Recommendations for the use of grafted plants in greenhouses. The case of the Netherlands 9.3Role of grafting in speciality crops 9.4Conclusions and future perspective of vegetable grafting 10Index