Can Grafting Manage Fusarium Wilt Disease of Cucumber and Increase Productivity under Heat Stress?

Tarek A Shalaby; Naglaa A Taha; Mohamed T Rakha; Hossam S El-Beltagi; Wael F Shehata; Khaled M A Ramadan; Hassan El-Ramady; Yousry A Bayoumi

doi:10.3390/plants11091147

Can Grafting Manage Fusarium Wilt Disease of Cucumber and Increase Productivity under Heat Stress?

Plants (Basel). 2022 Apr 24;11(9):1147. doi: 10.3390/plants11091147.

Authors

Tarek A Shalaby^{1

2}, Naglaa A Taha³, Mohamed T Rakha², Hossam S El-Beltagi^{4

5}, Wael F Shehata^{4

6}, Khaled M A Ramadan^{7

8}, Hassan El-Ramady^{9

10}, Yousry A Bayoumi^{2

11}

Affiliations

¹ Arid Land Agriculture Department, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
² Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt.
³ Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza 12619, Egypt.
⁴ Agricultural Biotechnology Department, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
⁶ Plant Production Department, College of Environmental Agricultural Science, El-Arish University, North Sinai 45511, Egypt.
⁷ Central Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
⁹ Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt.
¹⁰ Institute of Animal Science, Biotechnology and Nature Conservation, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 138 Böszörményi Street, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary.
¹¹ Physiology & Breeding of Horticultural Crops Laboratory, Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt.

Abstract

Cucumber production is considered a crucial problem under biotic and abiotic stress, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones. The current study investigated the impact of grafted cucumber plants on five cucurbit rootstocks under infection with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum alone and in combination with heat stress in two different locations (i.e., Kafr El-Sheikh and Sidi Salem) during the year of 2021. The rootstock of VSS-61 F₁ displayed the highest level of resistance with values 20.8 and 16.6% for wilt incidence and 79.2 and 83.4% for the wilt reduction, respectively for both locations. This rootstock showed the lowest disease severity of fusarium wilt (15.3 and 12%), and high grafting efficiency (85 and 88%), respectively in both locations. Grafting also improved plant vigor and cucumber production under heat stress (40-43 °C). The rootstocks VSS-61 F₁, Ferro and Super Shintoza significantly increased the total yield of cucumber plants compared to non-grafted cucumber and the rootstock Bottle gourd in both locations. Further studies are needed on grafted plants under multiple stresses in terms of plant biological levels, including physiological, biochemical and genetic attributes.

Keywords: anatomical structure; biotic and abiotic stress; cucurbit rootstocks; cucurbitaceous; disease incidence; disease severity.

Abstract

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