Critical aspects of grafting as a possible strategy to manage soil-borne pathogens

The management of soil-borne pathogens is nowadays complicated by the increasing restrictions in the usage of fumigants. Several factors need to be considered for a sustainable use of this practice such as the susceptibility of rootstocks against soil-borne pathogens which is age-dependent and the incomplete resistance of some of the rootstocks to one or more pathogens. There is an evidence of a pathogenic variation among some isolates of Phytophthora spp. on solanaceous crops and on rootstocks and the development of new diseases or the re-emergence of already known pathogens such as Colletotrichum coccodes after the phase out of methyl bromide. The critical aspects of grafting for soil-borne pathogens management are discussed.