Ozonated water enhances Diplotaxis tenuifolia growth and physiology under field and controlled conditions

Author(s): Riccardo Greco, Davide Danzi, Stefano Negri, Giorgio Zaffani, Flavia Guzzo, Elodie Vandelle, Linda Avesani.

Ozonated water application holds great potential in agriculture as a novel and eco-friendly approach for enhancing plant growth and boosting the quality of several plant species. Here, we describe the effects of ozonated water-treatments on wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia), the most commonly grown rocket species in Europe, North America, and Australia. We evaluated the impact of ozonated water on plants grown under a shaded plastic tunnel in the field during a growing season as well as in controlled conditions. During rocket harvesting period, we observed an increase in chlorophyll content and leaf fresh weight following ozonated water-treatment in the field, and an increase in the germination rate and hypocotyl elongation following ozonated water-treatment in vitro. Moreover, untargeted metabolomics of plants grown in the field revealed no major effects of ozonated water on the main rocket secondary metabolites (e.g. glucosinolates and flavonoids), thus ensuring a substantial equivalence of the food quality traits. In parallel, ozonated water-treatment increased the expression of marker genes (e.g. MYC2) of the jasmonate-mediated defense pathway. Overall, these findings suggest that ozonated water application could result in a better productivity as well as a major resistance to some pathogens, without affecting product quality.