Grafting affinity in kiwifruit: physiological and molecular studies for crop adaptation to the climate crisis

Supervisor: Prof Cipriani Guido 

Plant tolerance to abiotic stress is a complex trait involving several environmental factors, and improving the tolerance of crops using modern breeding and biotechnological approaches has proven to be difficult. Grafting, an ancient and traditional method of reproducing plants by connecting a scion and rootstock, can modify the traits of the aerial parts of a plant, including stress resistance, thereby increasing yield and improving fruit quality. Many studies have confirmed that the resistance of commercial plants to abiotic stress can be improved by grafting resistant rootstocks. Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) is popular among consumers because of its rich vitamin content and unique taste. However, kiwifruit plants are extremely sensitive to waterlogging stress, saline soils, and replanting. Waterlogging is one of the major causes that lead to the death of plants in some kiwifruit growing areas in Italy, because of their high transpiration rate and fleshy roots, which largely increases their planting risk in waterlogged soils.

The climate crisis, characterized by extreme meteoric events, the use of inappropriate irrigation practices, the use of saline waters, and the lack of arable land in suitable areas, increases the risk of failure in cultivation practice. This project aims to investigate the effect of using rootstocks with opposite resistance to waterlogging and salinity tolerance on kiwifruit growth, we will perform experiments and determine the physiological and biochemical changes, and associated gene expression, for the different scion– rootstock combinations.

In addition, tests are planned to study the grafting affinity at the structural and molecular levels.

Biography and Contacts

I was born on 21/05/1992 in Punjab, Pakistan. I completed my B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. (Hons) in Agriculture plant pathology from the Institute of Agricultural Science (IAGS), University of the Punjab, Pakistan in 2018. After completing my master's studies, in 2019 I worked as a research assistant at IAGS on a project entitled “Isolation purification and amplification of Antifungal proteins from Ganoderma lucidum to control diseases of perishable Crops”. In 2020, I joined an Agriculture Biotechnology Research Center (ABRC), Academia Sinica Taipei, Taiwan as a research assistant. During my stay in ABRC, I worked on a project entitled "Characterization of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) tropical race 4 (TR4) effectors and the defense mechanism of Foc TR4-resistant Cavendish variants and identification of key genes involved in Salicylic acid (SA) mediated pathway in Banana”. My research interest in plant biology revolves around understanding the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying plant growth, development, and adaptation to hostile conditions.

e-mail: 167949@spes.uniud.it