The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions
Increased global drought severity threatens crop yield and quality. Fulvic acid (FA), a humic acid compound, enhances crop stress tolerance. This study investigated FA application on drought-stressed tomato ‘Provence’ during the seedling and fruiting stages. Seedling-stage drought severely inhibited...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1528 |
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| author | Hongxia Song Weilong Zhu Ziqing Guo Tianyue Song Jiayu Wang Chongzhen Gao Hongtao Zhang Ruixue Shen |
| author_facet | Hongxia Song Weilong Zhu Ziqing Guo Tianyue Song Jiayu Wang Chongzhen Gao Hongtao Zhang Ruixue Shen |
| author_sort | Hongxia Song |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increased global drought severity threatens crop yield and quality. Fulvic acid (FA), a humic acid compound, enhances crop stress tolerance. This study investigated FA application on drought-stressed tomato ‘Provence’ during the seedling and fruiting stages. Seedling-stage drought severely inhibited growth, physiology, biochemistry, and photosynthesis, reducing seedling quality. Subsequent fruiting-stage drought further significantly decreased photosynthetic efficiency and assimilate synthesis, drastically lowering fruit yield and quality. FA application mitigated drought damage, with 400 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> being optimal. At this concentration, under seedling drought, Seedling strength index (Si), Photosynthetic efficiency (Pn), and Instantaneous water use efficiency (IWUE) increased significantly by 76.54%, 67.46%, and 36.97%, respectively, with no adverse morphological effects by flowering. Post-drought FA spraying later significantly enhanced leaf photosynthetic enzyme activity and WUE (by 89.16%, 98.48%, 42.20%, and 40%), boosting Pn, promoting assimilate accumulation and transport to fruits. This resulted in significantly improved fruit yield and comprehensive quality. In conclusion, spraying 400 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> FA significantly enhances tomato drought tolerance and water use efficiency in arid/semi-arid regions, offering an effective strategy for saving irrigation water and improving crop productivity in water-scarce areas. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8320cd4a47c142d6a4780795ca944995 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-8320cd4a47c142d6a4780795ca9449952025-08-20T03:32:24ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952025-06-01157152810.3390/agronomy15071528The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought ConditionsHongxia Song0Weilong Zhu1Ziqing Guo2Tianyue Song3Jiayu Wang4Chongzhen Gao5Hongtao Zhang6Ruixue Shen7College of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaCollege of Horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, ChinaIncreased global drought severity threatens crop yield and quality. Fulvic acid (FA), a humic acid compound, enhances crop stress tolerance. This study investigated FA application on drought-stressed tomato ‘Provence’ during the seedling and fruiting stages. Seedling-stage drought severely inhibited growth, physiology, biochemistry, and photosynthesis, reducing seedling quality. Subsequent fruiting-stage drought further significantly decreased photosynthetic efficiency and assimilate synthesis, drastically lowering fruit yield and quality. FA application mitigated drought damage, with 400 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> being optimal. At this concentration, under seedling drought, Seedling strength index (Si), Photosynthetic efficiency (Pn), and Instantaneous water use efficiency (IWUE) increased significantly by 76.54%, 67.46%, and 36.97%, respectively, with no adverse morphological effects by flowering. Post-drought FA spraying later significantly enhanced leaf photosynthetic enzyme activity and WUE (by 89.16%, 98.48%, 42.20%, and 40%), boosting Pn, promoting assimilate accumulation and transport to fruits. This resulted in significantly improved fruit yield and comprehensive quality. In conclusion, spraying 400 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> FA significantly enhances tomato drought tolerance and water use efficiency in arid/semi-arid regions, offering an effective strategy for saving irrigation water and improving crop productivity in water-scarce areas.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1528stress mitigationfulvic acidtomatophotosynthetic efficiencyfruit productivity |
| spellingShingle | Hongxia Song Weilong Zhu Ziqing Guo Tianyue Song Jiayu Wang Chongzhen Gao Hongtao Zhang Ruixue Shen The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions Agronomy stress mitigation fulvic acid tomato photosynthetic efficiency fruit productivity |
| title | The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions |
| title_full | The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions |
| title_short | The Impact of Fulvic Acid on the Growth Physiology, Yield, and Quality of Tomatoes Under Drought Conditions |
| title_sort | impact of fulvic acid on the growth physiology yield and quality of tomatoes under drought conditions |
| topic | stress mitigation fulvic acid tomato photosynthetic efficiency fruit productivity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/15/7/1528 |
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