Assessment of Pipe-Induced Brushing to Trigger Mechanical Stress Responses and Minimize Cell Damage for Large-Scale Applications in Tomato Transplants

초록

Applying mechanical stress offers enhanced productivity and the ability to regulate secondary metabolites. However, conventional methods such as rubbing or brushing are laborious and result in undesired tissue damage when applied to a large number of plants at once. In this study, we evaluated pipe-induced brushing, a mild method that effectively induces stress responses in tomato transplants. We treated plants with mechanical stress by repeatedly moving a pipe back and forth over the plant top area, enabling the simultaneous application of stress to multiple plants. Compared with conventional methods such as rubbing and paint-brush brushing, pipe-induced brushing induces stomatal closure but significantly reduces tissue damage compared to rubbing. We tested treatments involving five, ten, and fifteen cycles. Our results showed that all cycles of pipe-induced brushing could induce leaf epidermal damage during the consecutive treatment period, with the damaged plants fully recovering seven days after the final mechanical stress. Furthermore, all treated groups exhibited similar morphological changes, including reduced plant heights and enhanced anthocyanin accumulation, suggesting that at least five cycles of pipe-induced brushing effectively affect the regulation of the plant mechanical stress response without causing any severe damage. We also found that pipe-induced brushing produced consistent results across different tomato cultivars, suggesting its broad application. These findings suggest that pipe-induced brushing is an effective and scalable mechanical stress treatment for regulating growth in tomato transplants.

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