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Current Research on Plant Hormones Affecting Crop Yield and Fruit Quality

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2025 | Viewed by 4430

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Phytohormones and other plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been reported to have a wide range of effects on crops, mainly increasing yield and fruit quality properties at harvest, as well as reducing the impact of biotic and abiotic stresses. The effects of auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins and ethylene, as well as their inhibitors, antagonists or promoters, are dependent on the applied concentration and plant development stage at the time of treatment. In addition to these classical hormones, other compounds such as polyamines, salicylates, jasmonates, brassinosteroids, NO and melatonin have similar effects to plant growth regulators (PGRs). Moreover, the application of these PGRs during on-tree or on-plant fruit development affects fruit quality during postharvest storage, leading to improvements in storage time whilst maintaining optimum quality for consumption. This Special Issue will be focused on the recent advances in the use of PGT as a field treatment to improve crop yield. Specifically, it will consider climate change and fruit quality at harvest, and the maintenance of quality during storage via delayed maturation and senescence processes, with a particular focus on bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties and their beneficial health effects. Finally, it will focus on the cross-talk among these elicitors, and how this plays a crucial role in mitigating possible negative effects on crop productivity by inducing plant antioxidant machinery.

Prof. Dr. María Serrano
Prof. Dr. Daniel Valero
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • auxins
  • gibberellins
  • citokynis
  • ethylene
  • yield
  • quality
  • antioxidant
  • storage

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 1946 KiB  
Article
Melatonin as an Efficient and Eco-Friendly Tool to Increase Yield and to Maintain Quality Attributes during Lemon Storage
by Fátima Badiche-El Hilali, María E. García-Pastor, Juan Miguel Valverde, Salvador Castillo, Daniel Valero and María Serrano
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(18), 10025; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms251810025 - 18 Sep 2024
Viewed by 3837
Abstract
Lemon fruit (Citrus limon (L.) Burm.) is highly appreciated by consumers due to its antioxidant properties and health benefits. However, its shelf life can be limited by various factors, reducing the economy, and thereafter, new strategies to maintain the quality of lemons [...] Read more.
Lemon fruit (Citrus limon (L.) Burm.) is highly appreciated by consumers due to its antioxidant properties and health benefits. However, its shelf life can be limited by various factors, reducing the economy, and thereafter, new strategies to maintain the quality of lemons are necessary. Melatonin is a derivative of tryptamine, which is ubiquitously found in plants and has a wide range of functions regulating numerous physiological processes in plants. During two consecutive harvests, we evaluated the effect of preharvest treatments with melatonin on crop yield and on quality and functional properties of fruit of lemon cv. Verna at harvest and weekly after storage up to 28 days at 2 and 10 °C plus 2 days at 20 °C. Melatonin was applied as foliar spray treatments at dosages of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 mM and at three different stages of fruit development. The results showed that melatonin treatment had a positive impact on crop yield as well as in fruit quality parameters, such as firmness, content of bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activity, especially for a 0.5 mM dose. Taking all these effects into account, the application of melatonin along the growth cycle of fruit development could be considered a non-contaminant and eco-friendly tool for improving crop yield and quality of ‘Verna’ lemons at harvest and during postharvest storage. Full article
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