Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

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Scientia Horticulturae
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Effect of grafting on yield and quality of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)

Alessandra Moncada, Alessandro Miceli , Filippo Vetrano, Valerio Mineo, Diego Planeta, Fabio DAnna
Dipartimento dei Sistemi Agro-Ambientali, Universit di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 November 2011
Received in revised form 24 April 2012
Accepted 8 June 2012
Keywords:
Protected cultivation
Vegetable production
Eggplant cultivar
Solanum torvum
Rootstock

a b s t r a c t
Environmental conditions and growing techniques may inuence the characteristics of eggplant fruits
and their content in phenolic compounds. Grafting is a non chemical alternative for overcoming the
effects of intensive and continuous cropping that can modify plant and fruit characteristics. The rootstocks
preferred for eggplant are hybrids of tomato or tomato KVFN. Also species taxonomically close, as Solanum
torvum, have been used and showed good vigour, compatibility and resistance to wilt disease. Information
on yield and quality of grafted eggplants onto this rootstock is conicting. Therefore, the aim of this study
was to evaluate yield and quality of eggplant cultivars (Birgah, Black Bell, Black Moon and Longo) grafted
or ungrafted onto Solanum torvum. Plants were grown from October 2009 to May 2010 in an unheated
plastic greenhouse on solarized soil. Grafted plants had lower mortality, while yield and quality of fruits
were mostly inuenced by cultivars. The differences recorded for growth and yield of the tested cultivars
might be due to different growth characteristics, graft afnity and compatibility. Longo and Black Moon
were not inuenced by grafting, while grafted plants of Birgah and Black Bell had a higher unmarketable
production. Grafting onto Solanum torvum changed the color of fruits that were darker and with a less
vivid color. Browning of inner tissue was not inuenced by grafting. Total phenolic content was greater
in the ungrafted plants.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Eggplant cultivars differ for fruit size, shape and color. The most
cultivated type is the purple one. Its color depends on anthocyanins content of fruit skin. Anthocyanins are pigments located
in plant cell vacuoles (Timberlake, 1981) and belong to phenolic avonoids (Vinson et al., 1998), a powerful antioxidants group.
Extracts from eggplant fruit skin have demonstrated high capacity
in scavenging free radicals that can damage lipids, proteins, and
DNA (Halliwell et al., 1995), in suppressing the development of
blood vessels required for tumours and metastasis growth and in
inhibiting inammation that can lead to atherosclerosis (Matsubara
et al., 2005). Flavonoids isolated from S. melongena showed a great
antioxidant activity (Sudheesh et al., 1999; Sadilova et al., 2006) and
their consumption in the diet is associated with lower risk of stroke
(Keli et al., 1996), lung cancer and heart disease (Knekt et al., 1996;
Knekt et al., 1997). Yang (2006) states that, of 120 vegetable species
evaluated for antioxidant activity using four different assays (ABTS,
DPPH, ILP, and SOS), eggplant is ranked among the top 10 species
for superoxide scavenging (SOS) activity.
Italy is the top producer of eggplant among European Countries. Eggplant is mostly cultivated in southern Italy in open eld
during spring-summer, or under greenhouses from September, for

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 091 23862219; fax: +39 091 23862240.
E-mail address: alessandro.miceli@unipa.it (A. Miceli).
0304-4238/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2012.06.015

early production (December), in stressful conditions such as low

light intensity, high humidity and low temperature (Lee and Oda,
2003). These conditions may cause various physiological or pathological disorders leading to severe crop loss (Balliu et al., 2008).
Furthermore, in the Mediterranean area, crops rotation under protected cultivation is often limited to only two botanical families
(Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae); this continuous cropping has negative effects on soil and plants growth, due to the uneven uptake
of nutrients and to the wide spread of nematodes and soil borne
pathogens (Oda, 2004), especially those that can survive for a long
time (Garber, 1973).
The main diseases affecting eggplant are Verticillium albo-atrum,
Verticillium dahlie, Pyrenocheta lycopersici and nematodes (genere
Meloidogyne). They represent the restricting factor for greenhouse
cultivation, as they are difcult to control using standard agronomic
techniques (Trentini and Montanari, 1996). Thus, where the intensive and continuous cropping is quite common, grafting may be
a valuable non chemical alternative, and is often associated with
soil solarization in the greenhouses in Mediterranean area where
summer temperatures are too hot to grow plants.
The use of grafted vegetables under protected cultivation
increased over the last decade for the resistance to stresses that the
rootstock can give to plants (Leonardi and Romano, 2004; Rivero
et al., 2003).
The most used rootstocks for eggplant are hybrids of tomato or
tomato KVFN. Taxonomically close species, like Solanum torvum,
have been also tested as rootstock, showing good vigour and

A. Moncada et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

compatibility. This wild relative of eggplant, considered as an invasive weed in many areas, has resistance to a wide range of soil borne
pathogens (Gisbert et al., 2011) and is used especially for controlling wilt disease in tomato and eggplant (Lee et al., 2010). It is the
most common Solanum eggplant relative used for grafting even if
exhibits long germination time and often has irregular and erratic
germination even under good conditions (Ginoux and Laterrot,
1991; Gisbert et al., 2011). The germination problems, reported
also for other Solanum spp., are due to hard seed coat and embryo
dormancy that can be broken with various methods (Hayati et al.,
2005).
Grafting can improve crop resistance to biotic stress (Padgett
and Morrison, 1990), but it can be an important tool for improving
fruit quality (Martnez-Ballesta et al., 2008): fruits obtained from
grafted plants may show better quality than those obtained from
non-grafted plants as function of the rootstock (Fernndez-Garca
et al., 2004). Previous researches have shown that the environmental conditions and growing techniques may inuence the content in
phenolic compounds and minerals in eggplant (Hanson et al., 2006;
Russo, 1996; Savvas and Lenz, 1996); furthermore, a positive relation was found between using plants grafted on different rootstocks
and improvements in production and fruit quality parameters
(including phytochemical content, such as phenolic compound)
(Giorni et al., 2005). Grafting can also determine changes in fruit
composition that can be deleterious or harmful as reported for
the accumulation of nicotine in tomato from plants grafted onto
Nicotiana tabacum L. (Yasinok et al., 2009) or for scopolamine and
atropine accumulated at poisoning levels in fruit of eggplant grafted
onto Datura inoxia P.Mill. (Oshiro et al., 2008).
Solarization is a common practice for reducing soil borne
pathogens in Sicily and in other Mediterranean countries, where
summer temperatures are too high for growing vegetables under
greenhouses but permit to increase soil temperature up to lethal
levels for pathogens and nematodes. So, it is really usual growing
vegetable in solarized greenhouses even using grafted plants. Many
authors have assessed grafted plants in contaminated soil in open
eld, but little is known on cultivating grafted plants on solarized
soil. In this work we tested grafted and non grafted eggplant in
order to better evaluate the compatibility and the effect of grafting
on yield and quality of fruit in absence of a high soil borne pathogens
load.
The aim of this work was to assess the interaction between eggplant cultivars and Solanum torvum and to compare the differences
in yield and quality among the different combination of scions and
rootstock.

2. Materials and methods

The research was carried out from October 2009 to May 2010 in
the experimental farm of the SAgA Department of the University
of Palermo, in an unheated polyethylene greenhouse of 576 m2 .
The preceding crop was strawberry. Before transplanting, soil was
solarized with a green PE lm (0.05 mm) for 64 days starting from
the 20th of July. During solarization, soil temperature was measured at 15 cm depth and recorded every 30 min, using a Testo
175-T2 data logger. The same lm was kept on the soil as mulching
during crop cultivation.
Eggplants seedlings of four cultivars, both grafted or ungrafted,
were purchased from a commercial nursery and transplanted on
October 23 in rows 1 m apart at 2.5 plant m2 planting density. Tested eggplant varieties differed for shape, color and size
of fruits: big size dark purple colored (Black Bell, Black Moon),
big size rounded white-purple colored (Birgah) and long purple
(Longo).

109

Treatments were dened by a factorial combination of two

plant types (grafted and non-grafted plants onto Solanum torvum
rootstock) and four cultivars (Birgah, Black Bell, Black Moon and
Longo), with four replicates per treatment, each consisting of
16 plants.
All cultural practices recommended for eggplant cultivation
under greenhouse were adopted uniformly according to crop
requirements. Plants were pruned allowing the development of
only three stems, which were vertically supported by three horizontal plastic twines distanced each other 20 cm starting from
80 cm from the ground level and tied to poles distributed along
each row. Every shoot under the stems was eliminated.
The amount of nutrients distributed by fertigation, calculated
on the basis of theoretical uptake, expected yields and mineral
elements in soil, was: 250 kg ha1 of N, 150 kg ha1 of P2 O5 and
250 kg ha1 of K2 O.
In order to stimulate fruit growth under non optimal condition
for ower fecundation, owers were weekly treated with a solution containing 0.35 g l1 of 2-naphthoxyacetic acid (-NOA) and
0.01 g l1 of gibberellic acid (Sedlene melanzana-Aifar Agrochimica
srl Italy).
During the whole crop cycle, temperatures of the air inside the
greenhouse and of the soil at 15 cm depth were recorded hourly by
a Testo 175-T2 data logger.
The following parameters were collected: plants height after
3060 days from transplanting, leaves number after 45 days from
transplanting, height of the stem trifurcation, chlorophyll content
of leaves, marketable and unmarketable production, number and
average weight of marketable fruit, survival percentage of plants
at the end of growing season, dry matter of fruits and plant parts,
calyx and fruit color, lightness of pulp tissue, oxidation potential,
anthocyanins and total phenolic content (TPC) and DPPH scavenging activity.
Leaves chlorophyll content was measured by means of a SPAD502 meter (Minolta Camera Co., LTd, Osaka, Japan).
The dry matter of plants was measured at the end of the experiment. In order to determine the dry weight of the different plant
parts, shoots and leaves were harvested separately and then dried
in a thermo-ventilated oven at 65 C for 48 h until constant weight
was reached. The dry matter of fruits was measured at every harvest
and the results are expressed as the average of the whole harvesting
period.
Color (L*, a*, and b* parameters CIELab) was measured
on calyx and on two parts of eggplant fruit skin (upper and
lower section) by a tristimulus Minolta Chroma meter CR-400.
Chroma (C*) and Hue angle (H ) were also calculated as follows: C* = (a*2 + b*2 )1/2 , H = arctan (b*/a*). In the evaluation of
H , the angle of 0 was assigned to the semiaxis + a* (redness), the angle of 90 to the semiaxis + b* (yellowness), the
angle of 180 to the semiaxis a* (greenness) and the angle of
270 to the semiaxis b* (blueness). Statistical analysis was performed considering the H values included between 270 and
360 (IV quadrant) as negative (e.g. 346 was taken as 14 )
(Bakker et al., 1986).
The colorimeter was also used to determine the lightness of fruit
pulp by measuring L* value (0 = black and 100 = white). Fruits were
sectioned in the equatorial part and the color of the pulp was rapidly
measured in two areas of the section (central and lateral). Results
were expressed as L0 .
The oxidation potential was estimated using the Larrigaudiere,
Lentheric, and Vendrell (1998) method, with little modications as
in part suggested by Concelln et al. (2007). The colorimeter was
used to measure the color parameter L* on a section obtained as
described earlier. Color was measured immediately after cutting
(L0 ), after 30 min (L30 ) and 60 min (L60 ). The oxidation potential
was expressed as L30 = (L0 L30 ) and as L60 = (L0 L60 ).

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A. Moncada et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

All these parameters were measured at each harvest on three

fruits per treatment. The results are expressed as the average of
the registered values.
Chemical analysis were performed on extracts prepared according to a modication of the method described by Nisha et al. (2009).
About 100 g of eggplant from each variety and type of plant were
cleaned and trimmed in pieces of about 1 cm3 . The extraction, made
with methanol using soxhlet extraction method, was carried out for
6 h. The extracts were then concentrated at 45 C with a Rotavapor and resulting residues were brought to 20 ml and stored under
refrigerated conditions until further analysis.
The total phenolic content (TPC) was determined using
FolinCiocalteu reagent and expressed as gallic acid equivalents
(GAE) (Singleton and Ross, 1965). The extracts were diluted with
a 40:60 (v/v) methanol:water solution, to a suitable concentration
for analysis and 0.5 ml of commercial FolinCiocalteu reagent was
added. The mixture was mixed well and kept for 5 min at room
temperature before adding 1 ml of 20% sodium carbonate in water.
After incubation at room temperature for 90 min, the absorbance
at 760 nm was measured against reagent blank (Beckman DU640
UVvis Spectrometer), and the result was expressed as gallic acid
equivalents (mg 100 g1 of eggplant). The reaction was carried out
in triplicate for each thesis and the results were averaged.
Total anthocyanins were calculated according to a modication of the method described by Fuleki and Francis (1968) and Lee
et al. (2005). Two dilutions for each extract were prepared, one for
pH 1.0 using potassium chloride buffer (0.03 M) and the other for
pH 4.5 using sodium acetate buffer (0.4 M). Samples were diluted
to a nal volume of 4 ml (dilution factor = 10). The absorbance of
each sample was read at 520 nm versus a blank of distilled water.
The diluted extracts had no haze, and thus correction at 700 nm
was not performed. Antocyanin pigment concentration (mg l1 ),
expressed as Cyanidin-3-glucoside (Cy-3-glc) equivalents, was calculated according to the following formula:
Anthocyanin pigment (Cyanidin 3 glucoside equivalents, mg l

A MW DF 103
=
L

where A is the absorbance = (A of pH 1.0 A of pH 4.5), MW (molecular weight) = 449.2 g mol1 for Cy-3-glc, DF = dilution factor (0.4 ml
sample is diluted to 4 ml, DF = 10),  = 26,900 molar extinction coefcient for Cy-3-glc, L (path length in cm) = 1, and 103 = factor for
conversion from g to mg.
Free radical scavenging activity of the eggplant extracts was
measured according to a modication of the method of Brand
Williams et al. (1995). This method uses a stable 2,2-diphenyl1-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH) of violet color. Antioxidants
scavenge the free radicals and turn them into yellow color proportionally to the radical scavenging activity. The extracts (1.5 ml)
were mixed well with 3 ml of 0.1 mM DPPH in ethanol and then
incubated at room temperature for 30 min. The color developed
was read at 517 nm (Beckman DU640 UVvis Spectrometer) and
the percentage of scavenging activity (Q) was calculated as:
Q =

 Ac As 
Ac

Fig. 1. Histograms of the number of hours in which the soil temperature exceeded
some lethal thresholds (15 cm depth).

soil temperature at 15 cm depth was kept over some lethal values

(Pullman et al., 1981; Cartia and Asaro, 1994; Bollen, 1985) were
calculated (Fig. 1). The solarization period lasted 1536 h (64 days);
soil temperature was below 37 C for less then 10% (141 h) of soil
treatment duration. Higher and mostly lethal temperatures were
reached for longer time: the soil at 15 cm depth overcame 45 C for
652 h and passed over 50 C for 254 h.
The average hourly soil temperature was also calculated (Fig. 2);
it was almost constantly over 40 C (22 h day1 ) and raised over
45 C on average for 10 h day1 , with maximum temperature of
about 49 C from 3 to 6 p.m. According to the results of many
authors (Juarez-Palacios et al., 1991; Lombardo et al., 2012; Porter
and Merriman, 1983) the temperatures reached during the solarization treatment were lethal for many pathogens and nematodes.
Considering also the long duration of the treatment, its possible to
presume a high level of control of all the fungal pathogens.
Plants were planted in October and engraftment was good with
no differences among type of plants or cultivars.
The most favorable temperatures for eggplant growth are
between 16 C and 25 C, while the optimum for root growth is
around 18 C. The thermal conditions inside the greenhouse were
not always optimal: the minimum air temperature from November
till March was almost always under 10 C (lower threshold), while
the maximum air temperature got over 30 C (higher threshold) in
the early stages of cultivation (Fig. 3). From the end of November
till the beginning of April the minimum soil temperature at 15 cm
depth was always under 10 C, well below the optimum for root
growth (Fig. 4).
Plants growth was monitored from the transplant till the harvest of the rst fruit (about 60 days after transplant). The height
of plants was clearly affected both by grafting and cultivar. Non
grafted plants were higher (9 cm taller 60 DAT) and also had more
leaves (8.6 leaves plant1 45 DAT) than the grafted plants (60 cm
and 6.0 leaves plant1 ). The effect of grafting onto S. torvum was
more evident for Black Moon plants that were signicantly taller
if non grafted (Table 1). The delay in growing of the grafted plants

100

where Ac is the absorbance of control without extract and As is the

absorbance of each sample.
All the data recorded were subjected to analysis of variance and
mean separation was performed by Duncan multiple range test
(DMRT).
3. Results and discussion
In order to evaluate the efcacy of solarization for controlling the
soil-borne pathogen, histograms of the number of hours in which

Fig. 2. Average hourly soil temperature during solarization.

A. Moncada et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

111

Table 2
Dry matter (%) of different plant parts as affected by grafting and cultivars.
Black Bell

Black Moon

Longo

22.9a
23.5a
23.2a

21.2b
21.1b
21.1b

20.8b
19.8b
20.3b

20.2b
19.8b
20.0b

Leaves
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

11.9c
12.8c
12.3b

15.9a
12.6c
14.2a

10.3d
14.1b
12.2b

15.2a
14.6ab
14.9a

Fruits
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

13.4a
11.2b
12.3b

11.1b
11.4b
11.2c

10.9b
10.8b
10.9c

13.1a
13.4a
13.3a

Mean
21.3a
21.0a
Mean
13.3a
13.5a
Mean
12.1a
11.7a

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

Fig. 3. Evolution of air temperature inside the greenhouse.

Fig. 4. Evolution of soil temperature at 15 cm depth.

Table 1
Height of plants 3060 days after trasplant (DAT), height of trifurcation, number of
leaves 45 days after transplant (DAT), chlorophyll leaves content and survival rate
of plants as affected by cultivars and grafting.
Birgah Black Bell Black Moon Longo
Height of plants 30 DAT (cm)
15.2c
15.4c
Grafted plants
18.1ab 19.5a
Non-grafted plants
17.5bc
Mean
16.7c

16.7bc
21.5a
19.1ab

17.4b
22.1a
19.8a

Height of plants 60 DAT (cm)

61.3b 56.8b
Grafted plants
67.4ab 68.1ab
Non-grafted plants
64.4b 62.5b
Mean

55.1b
68.7a
62.0b

Mean
66.7ab 60.0b
71.4a 68.9a
69.1a

Height of trifurcation (cm)

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

26.5b 27.1b
24.3bc 22.5c
28.4a 25.4bc

31.1a
25.7bc
24.8c

Mean
28.0ab 28.2a
25.7bc 24.5b
26.8ab

Leaves 45 DAT (n plant1 )

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

5.7c
9.2a
7.1a

6.5c
7.8b
7.3a

6.5c
8.3ab
7.4a

Chlorophyll content (SPAD)

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

46.9a 43.7c
46.4ab 43.4c
46.6a 43.6b

43.8c
44.5bc
44.2b

47.3a
46.9a
47.1a

Survival rate (%)

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

95.3ab 96.9ab
92.2b 98.4a
93.8a 97.7a

98.4a
85.9c
92.2a

Mean
98.4a 97.3a
89.1bc 91.4b
93.8a

5.5c
9.0a
7.5a

Birgah
Stem
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

Mean
16.2b
20.3a

Mean
6.0b
8.6a
Mean
45.4a
45.3a

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

determined also a delay in owering and a higher height of trifurcation (28 cm on average), especially for Black Bell and Black Moon
that differed signicantly from non-grafted plants (Table 1).
No statistical difference was found, on average, between the two
types of plants as regard the SPAD values.
Cultivars, as expected, differed for plant growth and morphology. They also inuenced the dry biomass accumulation (Table 2)
that on the contrary was not inuenced by the grafting on average. Nevertheless, differences were noticed in the dry weight of the
leaves of Black Bell and Black Moon plants. They showed an opposite trend, having a higher dry weight of the leaves in the grafted
plants of Black Bell and in the non grafted plants of Black Moon
(Table 2).
At the end of crop cycle, the survival rate of plants was, on average, 97.3% for the grafted plants and 91.4% for the ungrafted ones
(all died plants were affected by Pythium crown rot). Black Bell
plants had the highest survival rate (97.7%, average of grafted and
ungrafted plants) and were not inuenced by grafting, while a substantial increase of mortality was recorded in the ungrafted plants
of Black Moon and Longo, whose survival rate went from 98.4% to
85.9% (Black Moon) or 89.1% (Longo), respectively for grafted and
ungrafted plants. Gisbert et al. (2011) found a similar trend using
S. torvum as rootstock for Black Beauty, even if we had a lower
percentage of plants dead probably thanks to soil solarization.
Harvesting started on December 20th 2009 and ended on May
6th 2010. Grafting did not exert any signicant inuence on the
marketable yield (on average 4.0 kg m2 ) but determined a lower
percentage of marketable fruit. The differences between cultivars were statistically signicant. Longo yielded more (5.6 kg m2 )
while the lowest fruit production was observed with Birgah and
Black Bell (about 3.0 kg m2 ) (Table 3). Even if the interaction type
of plant cultivars was not signicant, a different adaptability of
the four cultivars to the rootstock can be noticed. Grafting determined a slight yield reduction of about 1213% in Birgah, Black
Moon and Black Bell, while Longo yielded the same using grafted or
ungrafted plants. These results agree with those reported by Rotino
and Acciarri (2005) stating that sometimes the ungrafted eggplants
produce as much as the grafted ones, and by Crk et al. (2005)
stating that vegetative growth and yield are affected by eggplant
cultivar characteristics and by the combination of rootstock and
cultivar. Moreover, Gisbert et al. (2011) stated that S. torvum had
no signicant effect on total fruit number and yield of Black Beauty
eggplant.
An increase of unmarketable yield was observed in the grafted
plants as also found by Leonardi and Giuffrida (2006) and, even
in this case, signicant differences were noticed between the
cultivars: Black Moon and Longo gave the lowest unmarketable
production. The interaction grafting cultivar was signicant:

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A. Moncada et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

Table 3
Marketable and unmarketable yield, average fruit weight, number of marketable
fruits as affected by grafting and cultivars.
Birgah
Marketable yield
(kg m2 )
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean
Unmarketable yield (%)
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean
Average marketable
fruit weight (g)
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean
Marketable fruit
plant1 (n.)
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

Black Bell

Black Moon

Birgah

Black Bell

Black Moon

Longo

3.84a
4.20a

L*
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

17.1c
37.0b
27.1b

52.1a
47.8ab
50.0a

53.4a
48.1ab
50.7a

47.3ab
51.6a
49.5a

Mean
19.2a
10.9b

Chroma
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

7.6d
17.2c
12.4b

33.9a
29.6b
31.8a

32.2a
28.8b
30.5a

30.1ab
32.9a
31.5a

Hue angle
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

112.6b
114.1b
113.4b

119.7a
119.4a
119.5a

119.1a
119.7a
119.4a

119.7a
120.3a
120.0a

Longo
Mean

2.57b
2.91b
2.74c
26.9a
14.7b
20.8a

2.90b
3.31b
3.10c
30.9a
15.3b
23.1a

4.34ab
4.99a
4.66b
7.9bc
8.3bc
8.1b

5.58a
5.57a
5.58a
11.0b
5.5c
8.2b

Mean
338.9a
304.8b
321.8a

259.9c
227.0d
243.5c

306.3b
275.0c
290.6b

Table 4
Measured and calculated chromatic characteristics of the calyx of eggplant fruits as
affected by grafting and cultivars.

191.8e
176.4e
184.1d

274.2a
245.8b

Mean
42.5a
46.1a
Mean
26.0a
27.1a
Mean
117.8a
118.4a

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

Mean
3.0c
4.5bc
3.8c

4.5bc
5.9bc
5.2bc

5.7bc
7.2b
6.4b

11.9a
12.7a
12.3a

6.3a
7.6a

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

almost 30% of the production of Black Bell and 27% of Birgah grafted
onto S. torvum was unmarketable; these percentages dropped until
15% with ungrafted plant. The ungrafted plants of Longo showed
only the 5.5% of unmarketable yield, signicantly lower than those
of grafted plants (11.0%) (Table 3).
The average weight of fruits was signicantly higher in all the
grafted plants (274.2 g), especially for big sized fruit cultivars. As
expected, differences were observed among the cultivars: Birgah,
characterized by big size fruit, gave the highest average fruit weight
(321.8 g), while Longo (lengthened shape fruit) produced fruits of
184.1 g on average. The interaction grafting cultivar showed a
positive effect of grafting on average weight of Birgah, Black Bell
and Black Moon fruits, with an average increase of 30 g per fruit,
while the weight of Longo fruits was less inuenced by grafting
(Table 3).
The number of marketable fruits per plant was not signicantly
affected by rootstock (6.9 fruits per plant on average). Differences were found among the cultivars: Longo yielded almost 12
fruits per plant with no difference between grafted and ungrafted
plants, while an increase of 1.5 fruits per plant was recorded in the
ungrafted plants of the other cultivars (Table 3).
Grafting can inuence fruit characteristics related to quality, so
its very important to evaluate fruit quality as regard marketability
and nutritive value. Deleterious effects may appear as consequence
of the accumulation of harmful substances due to rootstock (Oshiro
et al., 2008; Yasinok et al., 2009). Solanine is a glycoalkaloid poison
that occurs naturally in many species of the genus Solanum. No evidence of solanine accumulation in fruits of egglant grafted onto
S. torvum has been assessed, but as S. torvum immature fruits are
consumed raw or cooked in India and other Asian or African countries (Gousset et al., 2005; Horzog and Gautier-Bguin, 2001), this
occurrence can be excluded.
Chromatic characteristics of eggplant fruits are reported in
Tables 4 and 5. The color of the calyx was not inuenced by grafting. Birgah fruits had darker calyx, lower value of Chroma (12.4)
and Hue angle (113.4 ) than those of the other cultivars. The interaction grafting cultivar was statistically signicant: the calyx of
Birgah fruits from non-grafted plants had higher values of lightness
(L* = 37.1) and a more vivid color (C* = 17.2) in comparison with the
grafted ones (L* = 17.1; C* = 7.6). An opposite trend was noticed for

Black Bell and Black Moon, that had higher values in the calyx of
fruits from grafted plants (Table 4).
The skin of fruits showed color variations as function of grafting
and cultivars. Eggplants, on average, appeared darker and with a
less vivid color both in lower and upper section when harvested
from grafted plants. As regard the cultivars, only Birgah was signicantly affected by grafting, while the other cultivars had similar
lightness and hue angle and differed only for chroma values. Grafted
plants of Birgah produced fruit with lower values of L* and chroma,
thus appearing signicantly darker and less vivid than those collected from non grafted plants (Table 5).
Lightness of the pulp of a recent sliced fruit was similar in grafted
and ungrafted plant, with values of 84.6 in the central section and
about 83.4 in the lateral section. Differences among the cultivars
were found: Birgah showed a whiter pulp, both centrally (L0 = 87.7)
and laterally (L0 = 84.8), while the darkest pulp was the one of Longo
Table 5
Measured and calculated chromatic characteristics of the epicarp of eggplant fruits
as affected by grafting and cultivars.
Birgah

Black Bell

Black Moon

Longo

EPICARP upper section

L*
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

9.0c
29.3a
19.2b

24.6b
23.3b
23.9a

24.4b
22.3b
23.4a

23.7b
26.8ab
25.3a

Chroma
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

3.8c
13.6a
8.7a

6.2b
6.1b
6.1b

4.2c
4.2c
4.2c

8.4a
8.3a
8.4a

Hue angle
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

9.0b
4.7b
6.9b

8.6a
9.3a
8.9a

9.5a
9.7a
9.6a

9.3a
8.0a
8.6a

EPICARP lower section

L*
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

22.6b
52.3a
37.5a

25.9b
24.3b
25.1b

25.4b
23.4b
24.4b

24.2b
26.4b
25.3b

Chroma
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

7.7b
13.4a
10.5a

7.4b
8.0b
7.7b

5.0b
5.3b
5.1c

9.1b
9.0b
9.0ab

Hue angle
Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Mean

26.6a
30.6a
28.6b

7.5b
7.7b
7.6a

5.7b
6.4b
6.1a

6.8b
6.1b
6.5a

Mean
20.4b
25.4a
Mean
5.6b
8.0a
Mean
4.6a
5.6a

Mean
24.5b
31.6a
Mean
7.3b
8.9a
Mean
11.7a
12.7a

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

A. Moncada et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 149 (2013) 108114

Table 6
Changes in browning of pulp tissue (L0 ) and browning potential (L30 after 30 min
L60 after 60 min) in central and lateral sections of eggplant as affected by grafting
and cultivars.
L30

L0

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Birgah
Black Bell
Black Moon
Longo
Interaction

L60

Central Lateral Central

Lateral

Central Lateral

84.6a
84.6a
87.7a
84.2b
85.0b
81.7b
n.s.

2.3a
2.6a
1.1b
3.2a
3.1a
2.3ab
n.s.

1.3a
1.8a
1.5a
1.6a
1.1a
1.8a
n.s.

83.6a
83.1a
84.8a
83.1b
83.4b
82.0c
n.s.

0.9a
1.2a
0.7a
1.2a
0.9a
1.4a
n.s.

4.1a
3.9a
2.8a
4.7a
4.7a
3.8ab
n.s.

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

fruits (L0 = 81.7 in the central section and L0 = 82.0 in the lateral
section) (Table 6).
In order to assess the effect of treatments on the browning potential of fruit pulp, the L* parameter was also measured
3060 min after slicing and the difference with L0 was calculated as
an index of browning potential (Table 6). The fruits of grafted and
ungrafted plants did not signicantly differed in browning potential. The browning was more evident in the peripheral part of fruit
section, especially after 60 min from cutting. As regard the cultivars, a more severe browning of the pulp was observed after 30
or 60 min in the lateral section of Black Bell and Black Moon. After
30 min, Birgah was the cultivar that oxidized less (1.1) (about three
times less than Black Bell and Black Moon), while after 60 min the
browning potential of Birgah (2,8) was similar to L30 of Black Bell
and Black Moon.
Among phytochemicals, polyphenols contained in fruits and
vegetables may be responsible of health benets, as they can
scavenge free radicals and inactivate other pro-oxidants. Content in phenolics determined in this work are within expectations
reported for S. melongena (Stommel and Whitaker, 2003; Prohens
et al., 2007; Raign et al., 2008) and conrms that rootstocks have
little or no effect on fruit phenolics content (Gisbert et al., 2011).
The total phenolic content (TPC) was higher in ungrafted plants
(60.6 mg 100 g1 f.w.) (Table 7). Black Moon had the highest TPC
(82 mg 100 g1 f.w.), about twice the content of Longo (44.21 mg
100 g1 f.w.). These considerable differences among the varietal
types conrm an important intraspecic variation in fruit composition (Raign et al., 2008).
No changes in the anthocyanins content and in the DPPH radical scavenging activity were caused by the type of plant or by the
cultivars (Table 7). The scavenging activity of eggplant was rather
high: about the 82% of the free radical DPPH was neutralized by the
antioxidants in the different samples, independently of cultivars or
type of plant (Table 7).

Table 7
Effects of grafting and cultivar on total phenolic content (TPC). total anthocyanin
content and DPPH radical scavenging activity of fruits.

Grafted plants
Non-grafted plants
Birgah
Black Bell
Black Moon
Longo
Interaction

TPC
(mg 100 g1 f.w.)

Anthocyanins
(mg 100 g1 f.w.)

DPPH
(%)

54.63b
60.65a
50.51bc
53.95b
81.89a
44.21c
n.s.

0.417a
0.400a
0.390a
0.403a
0.429a
0.385a
n.s.

81.65a
81.98a
82.61a
80.94a
82.34a
81.37a
n.s.

Value followed by the same letter are not signicantly different at p < 0.05 (Duncan
multiple range test).

113

4. Conclusion
Solanum torvum is a rootstock valued by farmers for its vigour
and for the wilt disease resistance; nevertheless, information on
improvements in yield and quality of grafted eggplant are often
conicting. Crk et al. (2005) stated that the effects of grafted
material on fruit quality are scion/rootstock specic. In some studies grafting was reported as not inuencing fruit quality (Nisini
et al., 2002; Bletsos et al., 2003) and as causing negative effect in
others (Lee, 1994; Nisini et al., 2002).
In our research, despite the negative effects on vegetative
growth, the effect of grafting onto Solanum torvum on fruit production was not so evident as also found by Gisbert et al. (2011); this
might be due to the reduction of the adverse biotic agents caused by
soil solarization as also reported by Leonardi and Giuffrida (2006)
in soil previously sterilized with methyl bromide.
Cultivating grafted plants on solarized soil helped to better evaluate the compatibility and the effect of grafting on yield and quality
of fruit in absence of a high soil borne pathogens load. Grafting on
S. torvum had no negative effect on yield and quality of eggplant,
thus suggesting a very good compatibility.
Even though mortality decreased with the use of plants grafted
onto Solanum torvum, the yield and the quality of eggplant seemed
to be more dependent on the characteristics of tested cultivars. So,
differences in growth and yield could be attributed to the different growth characteristics of the cultivars, and to their different
graft afnity and compatibility with the rootstock. Cultivars such
as Longo and Black Moon were not greatly inuenced by rootstock
while Birgah and Black Bell, when grafted, yielded less because of
the increase of the unmarketable production.
The grafting of eggplant onto Solanum torvum may increase the
size of the fruits, but reduced the lightness and the saturation of
their color. Also the pulp oxidation seemed not depending on rootstock but on the cultivars, while the total phenolic content was
greater in the ungrafted plants. Hence, even quality characteristics may vary as function of the interaction grafting cultivar. So,
the use of S. torvum as a rootstock for eggplant has to be related
to the characteristics of the cultivar and to the level of soil borne
pathogens inoculum in order to achieve a good compromise among
yield and quality.
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