Management of abiotic stresses in vegetable crops through grafting: A review

Abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, flooding, extreme temperatures and heavy metal can cause morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in the plant, which ultimately affect crop growth, yield and quality. In view of increasing challenges posed by abiotic factors owing to changing environmental conditions, the total production of vegetables is likely to get significant setback, which has potential to give a ruinous blow to the efforts being taken for food security. Among various mitigation strategies, grafting technology has emerged as an effective and alternative tool to alleviates various abiotic stresses. Various studies indicated that increased osmolytes accumulation, synthesis of antioxidant enzymes, improved photosynthesis and vigorous root architecture in grafted vegetables confer tolerance towards abiotic stresses, besides improving plant growth and fruit yields. In this review, we have tried to summarized the adverse effects of abiotic stresses in vegetables, and inclusion of all possible recent references related to response of different intra-and/ or inter-specific rootstocks on improving plant growth, yield and quality and alleviation in various abiotic stresses.