Abstract: Choosing Solanum torvum as rootstock and cultivated Xi'anlü eggplant as scion, a pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effects of autotoxic substances (cinnamic acid and vanillin) on the root growth, antioxidase activity, and osmoregulation substances content of grafted eggplant, own-rooted eggplant, and rootstock eggplant. Cinnamic acid and vanillin had allelopathic effects on the root system of test eggplants, with low concentration promoting and higher concentration inhibiting the root growth and physiological metabolism. For own-rooted eggplant, the critical concentration of cinnamic acid and vanillin for promotion or inhibition was 0.1 mmol·kg^-1and 0.5 mmol·kg^-1, respectively; whereas for grafted and rootstock eggplants, it was 0.5 mmol·kg^-1 and 1 mmol·kg^-1, respectively. The root resistance to autotoxic substances was in the order of rootstock eggplant > grafted eggplant > own-rooted eggplant. Higher concentration cinamic acid (0.5-4 mmol·kg^-1) and vanillin (1-4 mmol·kg^-1) enhanced the SOD enzyme activity and the proline and soluble sugar contents of grafted eggplant root by 8.50%-24.50%, 9.39%-27.64%, and 12.77%-81.81%, respectively, compared with own-rooted eggplant. The soluble protein content, fresh mass, dry mass, and root activity of grafted eggplant roots were significantly higher than those of own-rooted eggplant, suggesting that grafted eggplant had a strong resistance of rootstocks to autotoxic substances, which alleviated the negative effect of autotoxic substances on root growth.

Key words: cinnamic acid, vanillin, grafted eggplant, root growth, antioxidase, osmoregulation substance, microbial biomass carbon, phospholipid fatty acid, grazing style.