Grafting influence on the weight and quality of tomato fruit under salt stress

Two commercial tomato cultivars were used to determine whether grafting could prevent decrease of fruit weight and quality under salt stress conditions. The cultivars Buran F1 and Berberana F1 were grafted onto rootstock Maxifort' and grown under three levels of elevated soil salinity (EC 3.80 dS m(-1), 6.95 dS m(-1) and 9.12 dS m(-1)). Fruit weight reduction of grafted plants was lower (about 20-30%) in comparison with non-grafted ones. Salt stress at the second salinity level (EC 6.95 dS m(-1)) induced the highest alteration of examined growth and quality parameters. The total increase of phenols, flavonoids, ascorbate and lycopene content in the fruits of both grafted and non-grafted plants for both cultivars had a similar trend and intensity, though some inter-cultivar variation was observed. The possibility of grafting tomato plants to improve salt tolerance without fruit quality loss is discussed.