Enhancing vegetable transplant quality and stress tolerance through root to shoot growth modulation

Growing high-quality vegetable transplants requires a broad understanding of the morpho-physiological processes underlying transplant growth in confined root environments and subsequent growth and development after field transplanting, especially in stressful environments.
Vegetable species have unique developmental patterns, including leaf area expansion, shoot elongation, root development and time required to reach the desired transplant size.
Research demonstrated that root/shoot developmental traits could be modified by management strategies, affecting the overall transplant quality and stress adaptation.
This paper will highlight nitrogen, plant growth regulators, humic substances and light quality management strategies aimed at controlling stem elongation, and conditioning transplants to better adapt to post-transplanting stress.
Grafting, a specialized nursery technique that is rapidly gaining popularity worldwide to manage soil-borne diseases, will be discussed within the context of transplant quality and stress tolerance.

VIII South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes

D.I. Leskovar, K. Qin

containerized transplants, plant growth regulators, humic substances, tomato grafting, stand establishment

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1320.2