José Luis Castañares^1,2

1 Laboratorio de Fisiología Vegetal, Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Ruta 5 y Avenida Constitución, Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2 Estación Experimental INTA AMBA, Udaondo 1695, Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0025
Received: 05 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 22 Sep., 2025    Published: 25 Oct., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Castañares J.L., 2025, Enhancing abiotic stress resilience in horticultural crops through seed priming: a comprehensive review, International Journal of Horticulture, 15(5): 242-256 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0025)

Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, and cold significantly limit productivity in horticultural crops. Seed priming has emerged as an effective pre-sowing strategy to enhance stress resilience by activating physiological and biochemical pathways that prepare seeds for adverse environments. This review synthesizes current knowledge on priming-induced cross-tolerance mechanisms in horticultural species, focusing on antioxidant activation, membrane stability, hormonal balance and osmotic regulation. Practical applications and case studies across a range of vegetables demonstrate improved germination, seedling vigor and stress adaptation through diverse priming agents. The review also examines the agronomic benefits and limitations of priming, highlighting the influence of genotypic variability and environmental interactions. Finally, it outlines future research directions, emphasizing the need for multifactorial studies and the integration of priming with microbiome-based approaches, gene editing, and cultivar selection. Overall, seed priming offers a scalable and sustainable tool to enhance crop performance under multi-stress conditions, with broad implications for climate-resilient horticulture.

Seed priming; Abiotic stress tolerance; Horticultural crops; Cross-tolerance mechanisms; Sustainable agriculture