Melatonin: A promising approach to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in horticultural plants

Horticultural plants face significant challenges in maintaining productivity and quality owing to environmental stresses, including salinity, drought, heavy metal toxicity, and extreme temperatures. As a consequence, effective strategies are needed to enhance plant resilience to mitigate the effects of these stresses. Melatonin, a naturally occurring molecule, has emerged as a promising tool to improve abiotic stress tolerance in horticultural plants. Melatonin exhibits multiple protective mechanisms, including scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhancing antioxidant defense systems, regulating stomatal closure, modulating gene expression, and promoting osmotic adjustment. This review highlights the potential application of melatonin as a novel approach to enhance abiotic stress tolerance and boost plant growth and physiological functions in horticultural plants, necessitating further research and practical application. (c) 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of SAAB.