| heal.abstract |
Yield and fruit characteristics of eggplant, cv. 'Delica' (flask type fruit), were studied in relation to grafting and K rate. The vegetative growth and yield of plants grafted on to tomato rootstocks cv. '515' and '516' (Spyrou A.E.B.E., Athens) was superior to that of the non-grafted control, whereas plants grafted on to eggplant rootstocks cv. '494' and '543' (Spyrou A.E.B.E., Athens) showed similar development and yield to that of the control. The root systems of the tomato rootstocks were appreciably larger than those of the eggplant rootstocks, and this is likely to have encouraged the better vegetative growth of the former. Differences in yield were primarily due to larger sized fruit harvested from plants grafted on to tomato rootstocks, and fruit number was generally higher. Increasing the K content had a variable effect on mean fruit weight and yield of eggplant grafted on to tomato rootstocks, increasing both these parameters in experiment 1 (planting in early spring), but having virtually no effect in experiment 2 (summer planting). Rootstock or K rate did not affect the mineral composition of the fruit. It is concluded that for greenhouse eggplant cultivated under warm conditions, tomato may be the preferable rootstock for grafting. When planting occurs early in spring, a higher K rate may also be beneficial. © Verlag Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co. |
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