This Research Topic is part of the article collection series - New Rootstocks for Fruit Crops: Breeding Programs, Current Use, Future Potential, Challenges and Alternative Strategies and New Rootstocks for Fruit Crops: Breeding Programs, Current Use, Future Potential, Challenges and Alternative Strategies, Volume II.

Rootstocks play a crucial role in determining orchard efficiency and sustainability in fruit crops. Combining the desirable attributes of two or three different individuals by budding or grafting can produce dramatic effects on growth and productivity. The effect of rootstocks on fruit quality in terms of physical traits and internal chemical compositions is well known in several fruit crops. Rootstocks can influence precocity/juvenility, yield, tree size control, disease resistance or tolerance, fruit respiratory behavior, crop load and canopy management techniques.

There has been major progress made by rootstock breeders in the second half of the last century and the beginning of the present century. The increased breeding activity of rootstock breeders is the reason why a wide range of new rootstocks are available to fruit growers. However, breeding rootstocks for fruit crops is slower than scion breeding in the same species. This is due to the long testing requirements of rootstocks that reduce the opportunity for comprehensive first tests on individual plants and to expanding selection criteria for new rootstocks.

The current global agricultural challenges imply the need to generate new technologies and farming systems to cope with the need for sustainability and to face up to climate change. In this context, rootstocks are an essential component for fruit crops in modern agriculture. Currently most rootstocks used are clonally propagated and there are several ongoing efforts to develop these plant materials. The goal of this this collection is to present the latest results of new rootstocks developed using classic and modern selection techniques and forecast novel applications.

New rootstocks developed by classic breeding programs or by using advanced biotechnology for use with several fruit species such as citrus, apple, grape, peach, apricot, pear, sweet cherry, mango, olive and plum trees will be considered in this collection with respect to the benefits they provide to consumers, fruit growers, nurseries and processors. In this sense, some important topics will be considered in this new collection:

• Breeding new rootstocks
• Micropropagation
• Resistance to soil fungi and soil pests
• Scion compatibility
• Adaptation to soil conditions (nutrition, pH, salinity)
• Resistance/tolerance to drought and to severe winter cold
• Control of tree vigor
• Control of tree habit and branching
• Induction of improved precocity and abundance of cropping
• Induction of improved fruit size and quality
• Transgrafting: grafting a GM rootstock to a non-GM scion to improve traits without altering the fruiting variety
• Economics of new rootstock adoption

Please note that descriptive studies that report responses of growth, yield, or quality to a treatment will not be considered if they do not progress physiological understanding of these responses.

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New Rootstocks for Fruit Crops: Breeding Programs, Current Use, Future Potential, Challenges and Alternative Strategies, Volume III