Influence of Grafting on Fruit Yield and Quality of Tomatoes Grown in a High Tunnel

There has been a large increase in the use of high tunnels for vegetable production in the United States. While high tunnels offer well-defined benefits, growers have difficulty practicing crop rotation. This increases risks of soil-borne disease. Past studies have shown that grafting tomatoes onto disease resistant rootstocks can protect plants from soil borne disease, and improve plant growth and yield. A study was conducted in research high tunnels at the Rutgers Agricultural Research & Extension Center, Bridgeton, NJ, to determine if grafting affected tomato yield and quality independent of disease pressure using a bag culture system. The trial compared four tomato cultivars (BHN589, Primo Red, Red Deuce, and Scarlet Red) grafted onto Multifort rootstock with ungrafted plants.  Plant height and total marketable yield was greater for all four varieties on grafted plants than the ungrafted plants. When the data was pooled, the mean total marketable yield was 22.94 kg/8 plant plot for grafted plants and 16.71 kg/8 plant plot for ungrafted plants. There was no significant interaction for marketable yield between grafting and cultivar and grafting had no significant impact on fruit size and percent marketable fruit. The availability of using grafted tomato plants is a useful tool for high tunnel growers when unable to rotate crops and subject to disease pressure and for increased productivity in the absence of disease pressure.