The beneficial effects of exogenous melatonin on tomato fruit properties

As a highly conserved molecule evolutionarily, melatonin displays an exceptional multiplicity of actions in plants. Our study objective was to analyze how long-term applications of exogenous melatonin influence the quality and yield of fruit from 'ZheFen No. 701′ tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Plants that grew from seeds that had been soaked with melatonin prior to germination had much higher yields as well as more ascorbic acid, lycopene and the content of Ca element, while the content of N, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn element decrease. By contrast, plants irrigated weekly with melatonin-supplemented nutrient solutions showed significant improvements in their contents of soluble solids, ascorbic acid, lycopene, citric acid, and P element when compared with control plants that received only a standard solution. These results are the first to provide evidence for the role that melatonin has in increasing both fruit yield and quality in tomato.