Exploring the Transferability of Heat Stress Tolerance in Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) by Reciprocal Grafting

To improve the understanding of heat stress tolerance and adaptation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants to long-term heat stress, and to investigate the transferability of heat stress tolerance by grafting, reciprocal grafts of a heat stress tolerant and a heat stress susceptible genotype were produced.The tomato genotypes used in this study were identified in the VEG-ADAPT project, which used Mediterranean landraces as a putative reservoir of genetic diversity. Leaf samples were taken from young grafted plants during vegetative growth, grown in walk-in climate chambers under controlled conditions:Control treatment: 20/18 degree C (day/night), 60/85 % rel. hum. (day/night), 500 micromol m-2 s-1 for 16 h and 400 ppm CO2Heat stress treatment: 35/25 degree C (day/night), 60/85 % rel. hum. (day/night), 500 micromol m-2 s-1 for 16 h and 400 ppm CO2