What is grafting in horticulture?

• A. Burying seeds to germinate
• B. Joining two plant parts to grow as one plant
• C. Grafting is a form of genetic modification
• D. Removing leaves to reduce transpiration

Answer: (B)

Grafting in horticulture is the process of joining two plant parts so they grow as one plant. Typically, a scion—the desirable upper portion with buds or a specific fruit variety—is joined to a compatible rootstock, which provides the root system. When the graft takes, the tissues fuse and create a continuous vascular system, allowing water, nutrients, and sugars to move between the two parts. This technique lets growers combine traits from both plants, such as the fruit quality from the scion with the rootstock’s hardiness, disease resistance, or dwarfing effect. It isn’t about changing the plant’s genes; rather, it’s a physical union of tissues. The other options aren’t grafting: burying seeds is seed germination, and removing leaves to reduce transpiration is pruning.