Grafting tomato plant on tobacco plant and its effect on tomato plant yield and nicotine content

BACKGROUND: Two different tomato scions, cv. Elazig and cv. Sweet (cherry) (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were self-grafted and grafted onto tobacco root stock (Nicotiana tobacum L.). Then, grafted tomato plants were evaluated in terms of flower and fruit yield. Tobacco-grafted tomato plant fruits were also evaluated for nicotine content. RESULTS: Tobacco grafting had a positive effect on the tomato plant cultivation performance; the onset of flowering was almost 15 days earlier and the tomato flower and fruit yields increased in both tomato cultivars. Tobacco grafting resulted in 5.0% and 30.1% increase in total fruit weight for cv. Sweet and cv. Elazig, respectively. Because the level of nicotine was within acceptable ranges, tobacco-grafted tomato fruits were considered to be safe for consumption. Self-grafted tomato cultivars also had flowering time onsets almost 11 days earlier. However, self-grafting caused 6.0% and 7.6% less total fruit yield per cv. Sweet and cv. Elazig, respectively. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our results show that tomato-tobacco grafting is a novel and promising technique for improvement of not only tomato plant performance and yield, but also that it can be employed to various tomato varieties. (C) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry