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Impact of grafting on sensory profile of tomato landraces in conventional and organic management systems

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology volume 59, pages 597–606 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Tomato landrace producers are adopting grafting technology to overcome agronomic deficiencies and increase plant yields. Landraces are valued for their higher organoleptic quality, so it is important to assess the impact of grafting on their sensory profile. We studied the influence of ‘Beaufort’ rootstock on agronomic, morphologic, and sensory traits using two landraces (‘Mando’ and ‘Montgri’) and one commercial cultivar (‘Egara’) as scions in two extreme management systems for tomato cultivation: conventional/greenhouse and organic/open field. Panel sensory analysis found that grafting onto ‘Beaufort’ had a negative effect on sensory attributes, reducing sweetness, acidity, and intensity of flavor in the organic system and sweetness and intensity of flavor in the conventional system. In conventional management, grafting also modified some aspects of fruit appearance. In the conventional system, grafting significantly increased yield in all the genotypes (mean increase, 52%). By contrast, in the organic system, grafting increased yield only in the ‘Mando’ landrace (mean increase, 62.3%). As many genotype × grafting interactions affecting many important commercial traits occurred in both management systems, specific studies with different rootstock-scion combinations are highly recommended before adopting this technique for producing landraces with high sensory quality.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Planters Casas nursery for the grafting labor and the panelists for their collaboration in sensory analysis sessions. This work was supported in part by the Consorci del Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Miquel Agustí Foundation, Campus del Baix Llobregat, Carrer Esteve Terrades 8, Edifici D4, 08860, Castelldefels, Spain

    Joan Casals, Aurora Rull, Mauro Bernal, Ramiro González, Roser Romero del Castillo & Joan Simó

  2. Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology, BarcelonaTech, Campus del Baix Llobregat, Carrer Esteve Terrades 8, Edifici D4, 08860, Castelldefels, Spain

    Joan Casals, Roser Romero del Castillo & Joan Simó

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  1. Joan Casals
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  2. Aurora Rull
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  3. Mauro Bernal
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  4. Ramiro González
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  5. Roser Romero del Castillo
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  6. Joan Simó
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Correspondence to Joan Casals.

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Casals, J., Rull, A., Bernal, M. et al. Impact of grafting on sensory profile of tomato landraces in conventional and organic management systems. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. 59, 597–606 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-018-0086-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-018-0086-z

Keywords

  • Organic farming
  • Solanum lycopersicum L.
  • Organoleptic quality
  • Rootstock
  • Sensory analysis