Improving agronomic water use efficiency in tomato by rootstock-mediated hormonal regulation of leaf biomass

Water availability is the most important factor limiting food production, thus developing new scientific strategies to allow crops to more efficiently use water could be crucial in a world with a growing population. Tomato is a highly water consuming crop and improving its water use efficiency (WUE) implies positive economic and environmental effects. This work aimed to study and exploit root-derived hormonal traits to improve WUE in tomato by grafting on selected rootstocks. Firstly, root-related hormonal parameters associated to WUE were identified in a population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the wild tomato species Solanum pimpinellifolium. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that some hormonal traits were associated with productivity (plant biomass and photosynthesis) and WUE in the RIL population. Leaf ABA concentration was associated to the first component (PC1) of the PCA, which explained a 60% of the variance in WUE, while the ethylene precursor ACC and the ratio ACC/ABA were also associated to PC1 but in the opposite direction. Secondly, we selected RILs according to their extreme biomass (high, B, low, b) and water use (high, W, low, w), and studied the differential effect of shoot and root on WUE by reciprocal grafting. In absence of any imposed stress, there were no rootstock effects on vegetative shoot growth and water relations. Finally, we exploited the previously identified root-related hormonal traits by grafting a commercial tomato variety onto the selected RILs to improve WUE. Interestingly, rootstocks that induced low biomass and water use, 'bw', improved fruit yield and WUE (defined as fruit yield/water use) by up to 40% compared to self-grafted plants. Although other hormonal factors appear implicated in this response, xylem ACC concentration seems an important root-derived trait that inhibits leaf growth but does not limit fruit yield. Thus tomato WUE can be improved exploiting rootstock-derived hormonal signals which control leaf growth.