COMPARISON THE GRAFTING METHODS OF CUCUMBER SEEDLINGS (CUCUMIS SATIVUM L.) AND THEIR PERFORMANCE ON DRY MATTER PARTITIONING AND STAND ESTABLISHMENT RATE UNDER NACL STRESS
Cucumber variety (Ekron F1) was grafted onto a commercial rootstocks (Cucurbita maxima x C. moschata). Splice grafting (SG) and root pruning splice grafting (RPSG) were simultaneously applied. Two weeks after grafting, an equal number of each experimental unit was transplanted in to 200 cm3 plastic pots filled with vermiculite. The plants of each group were split in three equal subgroups and irrigated several times with equal amounts of the same nutrient solution (N 100 mgL-1, P mgL-1, K mgL-1) , but differing by each other by the amount of NaCl added in the nutrient solution (0, 50 and 100 mM). Root, stem and leaf dry matter was weighted, and leaf area of plants was measured. The grafting method showed a significant effect on the dry matter partitioning of grafted seedlings. Compared to splice grafted (SG), the root pruned splice grafted (RPSG) seedlings addressed a much higher amount of dry matter. The dry matter of transplanted seedlings was drastically reduced due to the increase of nutrient solution salinity, but still relatively higher value of dry matter were recorded in case of RPSG. RPSG seedlings showed a significantly higher dry matter partitioning, which was in favour of a quick stand establishment of seedling after transplanting
