Reduction of Bacterial Wilt Diseases with Eggplant Rootstock EG203-Grafted Tomatoes in the Field Trials

Wilt damage on tomato plants caused by Ralstonia solanacearum has been increased as the areas of tomato cultivation increased during the warm seasons. Also, the tomato rootstocks used to prevent the disease occurrence are not effective in the highly prevailing regions. Therefore, bacterial wilt resistant eggplant rootstock EG203, collected from AVRDC, was tested for its effect to deter the Ralstonia solanacearum wilt disease in the greenhouses at Buyeo Tomato Experiment Station from 2003 to 2005, and at Gumi, Kyungpook province from 2009−2011. Planting of eggplant rootstock EG203 should be done three weeks before the planting of tomato scions so that they can have similar stem diameter (2.5−3.0 mm) and can be easily grafted. Both insertion and inarching grafting showed 93−96 % success rates. In the greenhouse tests at Buyeo Tomato Experiment Station from 2003 to 2005, eggplant rootstock EG203-grafted tomatoes showed the disease occurrence of 4.3%. On the other hand, non-grafted or other commercial rootstock-grafted tomatoes showed disease occurrence of 58.0 % and 25.0−36.7%, respectively. In the greenhouse tests at Gumi, Kyungpook province in 2009, the disease occurrence on the EG203-grafted and non-grafted tomatoes was 2−5 % and 20− 80%, respectively. In 2010, at Gumi, Kyungpook province, when the wilt disease occurred slightly, the tomatoes grafted with tomato rootstocks B-blocking and Chung-gang, and eggplant rootstock EG203 showe