Foliar arginine application improves tomato plant growth, yield, and fruit quality via nitrogen accumulation

Tomatoes are essential for human health, and there is an urgent need to increase tomato yield and quality worldwide. Arginine is beneficial to crop storage quality and stress resistance in plants; however, its effects on nitrogen nutrition, tomato production, and quality have not been thoroughly investigated. Thus, this study investigated the influences on tomato growth, yield, and quality by spray arginine. Arginine significantly increased the nitrogen concentration in tomato shoots and fruits, induced by three pathways: assimilate arginine as nitrogen resource; up-regulate SlNRT1.1 expression; increase root development and activity. The photosynthesis was then significantly improved via increased nitrogen levels, further led to enhancement in plant growth, fruit size and yield of tomato. Moreover, arginine treatment positively affected tomato qualities, especially lycopene and vitamin C, by improving nitrogen accumulation. Present results revealed that arginine displayed tremendous potential for increasing tomato production and quality.