Glyphosate hormesis stimulates tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant growth and enhances tolerance against environmental abiotic stress by triggering nonphotochemical quenching

Abstract Background Glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicide in the world. Hormesis caused by low glyphosate doses has been widely documented in many plant species. However, the specific adaptative mechanism of plants responding to glyphosate hormesis stimulation remains unclear. This study focused on the biphasic relationship between glyphosate dose and tomato plant growth, and how glyphosate hormesis stimulates plant growth and enhances tolerance to environmental stress. Results We constructed a hormesis model to describe the biphasic relationship with a maximal stimulation (MAX) of 162% above control by glyphosate at 0.063 g ha −1 . Low‐dose glyphosate increased photosynthetic pigment contents and improve photosynthetic efficiency, leading to plant growth stimulation. We also found that glyphosate hormesis enhanced plant tolerance to diuron (DCMU; a representative photosynthesis inhibitor) by triggering the nonphotochemical chlorophyll fluorescence quenching (NPQ) reaction to dissipate excess energy stress from photosystem II (PSII). Transcriptomic analysis and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction results revealed that the photosynthesis–antenna proteins pathway was the most sensitive to glyphosate hormesis, and PsbS (encoding photosystem II subunit S), ZEP (encoding zeaxanthin epoxidase) and VDE (encoding violaxanthin de‐epoxidase) involved in NPQ played crucial roles in the plant response to glyphosate hormesis. Conclusion These results provide novel insights into the mechanisms of plant hormesis and is meaningful to the application of glyphosate hormesis in agriculture. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.