Global plant production is challenged by unpredictable (a)biotic stresses that occur individually, simultaneously or staggered. Due to an increasing demand for environmentally friendly plant production, new sustainable, universal, and preventive measures in crop protection are needed. We postulate thermopriming as a suitable procedure that fulfills these requirements. Therefore, we performed thermopriming as a pre-conditioning on tomato transplants in combination with two subsequent salt stress treatments to evaluate their single and combined physiological effects on leaves and fruits with regard to plant performance, fruit yield and quality. We identified a cross-tolerance to salinity that was triggered by the preceding thermopriming treatment and resulted in an accumulation of phenols and flavonols in the leaves. Plant growth and fruit yield were initially delayed after the stress treatments but recovered later. In regard to fruit quality, we found an increase in carotenoid and starch contents in fruits due to thermopriming, while sugars and titratable acidity were not affected. Our results indicate that thermopriming can mitigate the impact of subsequent and recurrent stress events on plant performance and yield under production-like conditions.
Keywords: Solanum lycopersicum; abiotic stress; climate change; fruit quality; fruit yield; plant development; plant growth; secondary metabolites; thermomemory.