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Article|16 Apr 2024|OPEN
Enhancing tomato fruit antioxidant potential through hydrogen nanobubble irrigation
Jing He1,2,7 , Yunpeng Zhou1,2,7 , Christoph-Martin Geilfus3 and Jiankang Cao4 , Daqi Fu4 , Shahar Baram5 , Yanzheng Liu6 , Yunkai Li,1,2 ,
1State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
2Engineering Research Center for Agricultural Water-Saving and Water Resources, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
3Department of Soil Science & Plant Nutrition, Hochschule Geisenheim University, Hessen 65366, Germany
4College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China
5Institute for Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Ramat Yishay 30095, Israel
6Department of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Beijing Vocational College of Agriculture, Beijing 102208, China
7Jing He and Yunpeng Zhou contributed equally to this article
*Corresponding author. E-mail: yunkai@cau.edu.cn

Horticulture Research 11,
Article number: uhae111 (2024)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae111
Views: 1329

Received: 18 Dec 2023
Accepted: 06 Apr 2024
Published online: 16 Apr 2024

Abstract

Eating fruits and vegetables loaded with natural antioxidants can boost human health considerably and help fight off diseases linked to oxidative stress. Hydrogen has unique antioxidant effects. However, its low-solubility and fast-diffusion has limited its applications in agriculture. Integration of hydrogen with nanobubble technology could address such problems. However, the physiological adaptation and response mechanism of crops to hydrogen nanobubbles is still poorly understood. Antioxidant concentrations of lycopene, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, and resveratrol in hydrogen nanobubble water drip-irrigated tomato fruits increased by 16.3–264.8% and 2.2–19.8%, respectively, compared to underground water and oxygen nanobubble water. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were combined to investigate the regulatory mechanisms that differed from the controls. Comprehensive multi-omics analysis revealed differences in the abundances of genes responsible for hormonal control, hydrogenase genes, and necessary synthetic metabolites of antioxidants, which helped to clarify the observed improvements in antioxidants. This is the first case of hydrogen nanobubble water irrigation increasing numerous natural antioxidant parts in fruits. Considering the characteristics of hydrogen and the application of the nanobubble technology in agriculture, the findings of the present study could facilitate the understanding of the potential effects of hydrogen on biological processes and the mechanisms of action on plant growth and development.