Journal
HORTICULTURAE
Volume 7, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/horticulturae7100391
Keywords
watermelon; rootstock; cold stress; antioxidant enzymes; gene expression
Categories
Funding
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2019YFE0118900]
- Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LY18C06000]
- Ningbo Natural Science Foundation [2017A610293]
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Grafting technology has been used to enhance cold stress tolerance in watermelon, with watermelons grafted onto 2505 and 0526 rootstocks showing higher resilience. The improved cold tolerance was associated with higher chlorophyll and proline content, and lower MDA content in grafted watermelons.
Recently, grafting has been used to improve abiotic stress resistance in crops. Here, using watermelon 'Zaojia 8424' (Citrullus lanatus) as scions, three different gourds (Lagenaria siceraria, 0526, 2505, and 1226) as rootstocks, and non-grafted plants as controls (different plants were abbreviated as 0526, 2505, 1226, and 8424), the effect of cold stress on various physiological and molecular parameters was investigated. The results demonstrate that the improved cold tolerance of gourd-grafted watermelon was associated with higher chlorophyll and proline content, and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content, compared to 8424 under cold stress. Furthermore, grafted watermelons accumulated fewer reactive oxygen species (ROS), accompanied by enhanced antioxidant activity and a higher expression of enzymes related to the Calvin cycle. In conclusion, watermelons with 2505 and 0526 rootstocks were more resilient compared to 1226 and 8424. These results confirm that using tolerant rootstocks may be an efficient adaptation strategy for improving abiotic stress tolerance in watermelon.
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