Bioestimulante sustentável de folhas de tomateiro anão: avaliação metabolômica e efeito em mudas de alface por imagens RGB

Abstract

Plant production practices that reduce the excessive use of chemical inputs are essential for sustainable agriculture. Dwarf tomato leaf extract, characterized by its richness in secondary metabolites, represents a promising sustainable bio-stimulant for vegetable crops. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of leaf extract from the dwarf tomato genotype UFU MC TOM1 as a sustainable biostimulant in lettuce seedlings using RGB image analysis, as well as to identify the metabolites present in the leaves by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The experiment was conducted under controlled conditions in a spray test chamber, using lettuce seedlings grown in trays and subjected to three spray applications of leaf extracts from two tomato genotypes (UFU MC TOM1 and Santa Clara) at different concentrations (50%, 75%, and 100%), with distilled water as the control. Evaluations included fresh and dry mass, shoot length, and root length. Application of UFU MC TOM1 leaf extract promoted significant increases in fresh and dry mass, especially at concentrations of 50%, 75%, and 100%. Shoot length was also favored, particularly in the 75% and 100% treatments, while root length and total seedling length did not show consistent gains. Multivariate analysis confirmed the superior performance of UFU MC TOM1 extracts, and RGB image analysis corroborated the manual measurements. Metabolomic characterization revealed higher abundance of amino acids, carbohydrates, and carboxylic acids in UFU MC TOM1 compared to Santa Clara, with emphasis on L-serine, L-erythrulose, adenine, and urea, reinforcing its potential as a natural and sustainable biostimulant for agricultural systems.