The Grafting Tomatoes Crop- an Alternative for Vegetable Growers

Abstract. In Romania tomatoes represent the most important crops in greenhouses, generally adopting a continuous monoculture. Since crop rotation is rarely adopted, the reduction of yield, both in quantity and quality, progressively affects the crops. Investigations in Horting Institute showed that after 4 years of continuous tomato monoculture a yield reduction up to 48 % occurred,thus making necessary the adoption of soil disinfestations practices or, other methods. The treatment of soil with methyl bromide was used only by large commercial farmers (107.72 tons methyl bromide in 2003). Since the adhesion to the Montreal Protocol, Romania government decided to phase out methyl bromide use starting 2005. Results of the demonstrative plots (MAKIS-project) obtained in 2008-2010 indicated for the Romanian conditions, the following methyl bromide alternatives were suitable for soil disinfestations: metham sodium (chemicals methods), and grafting tomatoes (non-chemical method). Grafting tomatoes cultivars with high quality and productivity on rootstocks that are resistant to the soil pests and diseases is a method known for years ago, but which was improved and quickly spread in the last years. The main result of the grafting process is the increase of the resistance against soil diseases and pests, respectively the quality of fruits