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To determine whether root‐supplied ABA alleviates saline stress, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Sugar Drop) was grafted onto two independent lines (NCED OE) overexpressing the SlNCED1 gene (9‐cis‐epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase) and wild type rootstocks. After 200 days of saline irrigation (EC = 3.5 dS m−1), plants with NCED OE rootstocks had 30% higher fruit yield, but decreased root biomass and lateral root development. Although NCED OE rootstocks upregulated ABA‐signalling (AREB, ATHB12), ethylene‐related (ACCs, ERFs), aquaporin (PIPs) and stress‐related (TAS14, KIN, LEA) genes, downregulation of PYL ABA receptors and signalling components (WRKYs), ethylene synthesis (ACOs) and auxin‐responsive factors occurred. Elevated SlNCED1 expression enhanced ABA levels in reproductive tissue while ABA catabolites accumulated in leaf and xylem sap suggesting homeostatic mechanisms. NCED OE also reduced xylem cytokinin transport to the shoot and stimulated foliar 2‐isopentenyl adenine (iP) accumulation and phloem transport. Moreover, increased xylem GA3 levels in growing fruit trusses were associated with enhanced reproductive growth. Improved photosynthesis without changes in stomatal conductance was consistent with reduced stress sensitivity and hormone‐mediated alteration of leaf growth and mesophyll structure. Combined with increases in leaf nutrients and flavonoids, systemic changes in hormone balance could explain enhanced vigour, reproductive growth and yield under saline stress. ABA overproducing tomato rootstocks increase shoot vigour and fruit yield under saline conditions by altering stress‐related responses, improving photosynthesis and optimizing source‐sink relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity provokes an imbalance of vegetative to generative growth, thus impairing crop productivity. Unlike breeding strategies, grafting is a direct and quick alternative to improve salinity tolerance in horticultural crops, through rebalancing plant development. Providing that hormones play a key role in plant growth and development and stress responses, we hypothesized that rootstock-mediated reallocation of vegetative growth and yield under salinity was associated with changes in the hormonal balance. To test this hypothesis, the hybrid pepper variety (Capsicum annuum L. "Gacela F1") was either non-grafted or grafted onto three commercial rootstocks (Creonte, Atlante, and Terrano) and plants were grown in a greenhouse under control (0 mM NaCl) and moderate salinity (35 mM NaCl) conditions. Differential vegetative growth versus fruit yield responses were induced by rootstock and salinity. Atlante strongly increased shoot and root fresh weight with respect to the non-grafted Gacela plants associated with improved photosynthetic rate and K+ homeostasis under salinity. The invigorating effect of Atlante can be explained by an efficient balance between cytokinins (CKs) and abscisic acid (ABA). Creonte improved fruit yield and maintained the reproductive to vegetative ratio under salinity as a consequence of its capacity to induce biomass reallocation and to avoid Na+ accumulation in the shoot. The physiological responses associated with yield stability in Creonte were mediated by the inverse regulation of CKs and the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid. Finally, Terrano limited the accumulation of gibberellins in the shoot thus reducing plant height. Despite scion compactness induced by Terrano, both vegetative and reproductive biomass were maintained under salinity through ABA-mediated control of water relations and K+ homeostasis. Our data demonstrate that the contrasting developmental and physiological responses induced by the rootstock genotype in salinized pepper plants were critically mediated by hormones. This will be particularly important for rootstock breeding programs to improve salinity tolerance by focusing on hormonal traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water availability is the most important factor limiting food production, thus developing new scientific strategies to allow crops to more efficiently use water could be crucial in a world with a growing population. Tomato is a highly water consuming crop and improving its water use efficiency (WUE) implies positive economic and environmental effects. This work aimed to study and exploit root-derived hormonal traits to improve WUE in tomato by grafting on selected rootstocks. Firstly, root-related hormonal parameters associated to WUE were identified in a population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the wild tomato species Solanum pimpinellifolium . A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that some hormonal traits were associated with productivity (plant biomass and photosynthesis) and WUE in the RIL population. Leaf ABA concentration was associated to the first component (PC1) of the PCA, which explained a 60% of the variance in WUE, while the ethylene precursor ACC and the ratio ACC/ABA were also associated to PC1 but in the opposite direction. Secondly, we selected RILs according to their extreme biomass (high, B, low, b) and water use (high, W, low, w), and studied the differential effect of shoot and root on WUE by reciprocal grafting. In absence of any imposed stress, there were no rootstock effects on vegetative shoot growth and water relations. Finally, we exploited the previously identified root-related hormonal traits by grafting a commercial tomato variety onto the selected RILs to improve WUE. Interestingly, rootstocks that induced low biomass and water use, ‘bw’, improved fruit yield and WUE (defined as fruit yield/water use) by up to 40% compared to self-grafted plants. Although other hormonal factors appear implicated in this response, xylem ACC concentration seems an important root-derived trait that inhibits leaf growth but does not limit fruit yield. Thus tomato WUE can be improved exploiting rootstock-derived hormonal signals which control leaf growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]