Effectiveness of Grafting in Enhancing Salinity Tolerance of Tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) Using Novel and Commercial Rootstocks in Soilless Systems

Thabit Alqardaeai (), Abdulaziz Alharbi, Mekhled Alenazi, Abdulrasoul Alomran, Abdulaziz Alghamdi, Abdullah Obadi, Ahmed Elfeky and Mohamed Osman
Additional contact information
Thabit Alqardaeai: Plant Production Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdulaziz Alharbi: Plant Production Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mekhled Alenazi: Plant Production Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdulrasoul Alomran: Soil Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdulaziz Alghamdi: Soil Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Obadi: Plant Production Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Elfeky: Agricultural Engineering Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Osman: Plant Production Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The scarcity of high-quality water in arid regions like Saudi Arabia necessitates saline water use in irrigation. Sustainable techniques, such as grafting and soilless cultivation, enhance crop resilience and optimize resource use, ensuring long-term agricultural and water sustainability to meet rising food demand. So, this study evaluated grafting’s effectiveness in enhancing the salt tolerance of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) under soilless culture. The experiment tested two salinity levels, two growing media (volcanic rock and sand), and six grafting treatments: the scion ‘Tone Guitar F1’ was cultivated through non-grafting (G1), self-grafted onto itself (G2), and grafted onto the commercial rootstock ‘Maxifort F1’ (G3), which was grafted onto three newly developed rootstocks, namely X-218 (G4), X-238 (G5), and Alawamiya365 (G6). The results indicated that plants performed better at 2 dS m −1 , while higher salinity (4 dS m −1 ) negatively impacted growth. However, grafting under saline stress improved most of the measured traits, excluding fruit quality (vitamin C, titratable acidity, and total soluble sugars). Grafted plants (G2–G6), particularly those grown in volcanic rock at 2 dS m −1 , exhibited superior fruit characteristics, yield, water productivity, and leaf calcium (Ca 2+ ) and potassium (K + ) content compared to the non-grafted controls (G1). The sand medium generally produced lower values for all the traits, regardless of salinity or grafting. Moreover, grafting under 2 and 4 dS m −1 reduced leaf sodium (Na + ) and chloride (Cl − ). The best overall performance was provided by the rootstocks X-218 and X-238. Grafting onto salt-tolerant rootstocks is a promising strategy for improving tomato yield and water productivity under saline irrigation in arid and semi-arid regions.

Keywords: sustainability; salt stress; grafting; rootstock; soilless culture; tomato fruit; yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/10/4333/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/10/4333/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:10:p:4333-:d:1653109

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().