Melatonin foliar sprays elicit salinity stress tolerance and enhance fruit yield and quality in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.)

The increasing salinity in soils and irrigation water is a major concern for growers of strawberry, a salt-sensitive horticultural crop. The hormone melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is involved in many biological processes and affects plant responses to environmental stresses. The effects of weekly 100 and 200 μM melatonin sprays on leaf composition parameters (photosynthetic pigment and macronutrient concentrations, oxidative stress markers, antioxidant defense systems and abscisic acid concentrations), fruit yield and quality parameters (soluble solids, total acidity, ascorbic acid, total antioxidants and phenolics and sugars), and leaf and fruit melatonin have been studied in strawberry grown under non-saline, moderate and intense salinity conditions (0, 40 and 80 mM NaCl, respectively). Salinity led to decreases in yield, fruit quality parameters and leaf photosynthetic pigments and macronutrient concentrations, as well as to increases in oxidative stress, with melatonin foliar application alleviating all these changes. On the other hand, salinity led to increases in the leaf levels of antioxidant enzymes, abscisic acid and melatonin, with foliar applications of melatonin boosting those increases. In the absence of salinity stress, melatonin led to smaller changes in all parameters in the same direction to that observed in the presence of salinity. Furthermore, melatonin resulted in increases in strawberry fruit yield and quality, especially in plants grown under salinity. Results indicate that the effects of melatonin application are associated with a boost in leaf antioxidant enzymes and abscisic acid, and support that the application of melatonin is a promising tool for mitigating salt stress in strawberry.