Role of Hydrogen Peroxide on Horticultural Crops

Abstract

Horticulture is the art and science of growing plants, generally at small scale as compared with larger scale cultivation of crops as in agriculture. The areas of horticulture include gardening, plant production and propagation, arboriculture, landscaping etc. including ornamental trees and plants, fruits, vegetables, flowers, turf, nuts, seeds, herbs and sprouts. In both large- and small-scale farming, growers are increasingly using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a chemical to promote plant development. Hydrogen peroxide is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) which is able to cause damage cellular structures but, on the other hand, it can also act as a potent signaling molecule that mediates various physiological and biochemical processes in plants including respiration, photosynthesis, translocation, and transpiration. Its low concentration can improve plant growth and mitigate the negative effects of stress on plants by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes, the stability of plant membrane and the metabolism of lipids, fatty acids and carbohydrates. Due to these properties, there are a number of positive effects of hydrogen peroxide have been reported on horticultural crops. In seed germination, H2O2 can be applied as treatment to increase the seed germination percentage along with effective growth of seedlings as H2O2 activated proteins are involved in plant signaling, development, cell cycle control, cell elongation and division. Furthermore, an increase in the floral bud’s H2O2 level is seen as a sign that the bud endodormancy is about to be released and stimulate reproductive growth by ameliorating the expression of flowering related gene. H2O2 treated plants exhibit the lowest frequency of bud drop and it improves the fruit yield. Therefore, hydrogen peroxide is crucial for fruit set because it reduces initial fruit drop and increases fruit yield due to a positive association between peel color and total soluble solids; between net photosynthesis and SPS activity and, between phenol & flavonoids content and antioxidant activity. In addition, H2O2 have great oxidizing potential than typical disinfectants and being a powerful antioxidant, it is mostly used to stop plant disease from growing in fertigation water and works effectively against already grown pathogens. Thus, applying hydrogen peroxide as a growth enhancer, seed and seedling development and preharvest and postharvest fruit yield and quality can improve the horticultural potential of growers.