ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1651406
This article is part of the Research TopicNatural Plant Compounds to Improve Sustainability and Resilience in AgricultureView all articles
Elucidating the Mechanism of Soybean-Derived Protein Hydrolysate in Stabilizing Rice Yield and Enhancing Agronomic Efficiency
Provisionally accepted
Shunchang Zhang1
Lijuan Tang2
Zhan Xing3
Dianwen Wang2
Anning Zhang4Hao Wu1Cheng Huang2Hongping Chen2
Jilin Wang2*- 1Zhejiang Taizhou Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd., Taizhou, China
- 2Rice National Engineering Research Center (Nanchang), Rice Research Institute, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China
- 3Qiteng Agricultural Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China
- 4Key Laboratory of Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China
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As a type of biostimulant, protein hydrolysates (PHs) can promote crop growth, increase yield, and enhance crop tolerance to abiotic stresses. However, their application and research in rice production remain relatively limited. Focusing on "Lifenggu" (a soybean-derived protein hydrolysate), this study carried out multi-location field trials to evaluate the real-world application efficacy of this biostimulant on rice production across varying environmental conditions. Meanwhile, laboratory-based assays were conducted to analyze the dose-response of rice growth to "Lifenggu" and its protective mechanisms under high-temperature and herbicide stress. Field experimental results showed that "Lifenggu" could increase rice yield by 8.9%-14% (with an average increase of 10%). Physiological analysis revealed that "Lifenggu" might promote biomass accumulation by increasing the SPAD value of rice and enhancing the activity of nitrogen metabolic enzymes. Under herbicide and high-temperature stress, "Lifenggu" could alleviate the adverse effects caused by stress and reduce yield losses, possibly by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes and the content of proline, while decreasing the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Further transcriptomic analyses demonstrated that "Lifenggu" regulates the expression of genes involved in phytohormone biosynthesis, stress response pathways, and secondary metabolism. This, in turn, serves as the molecular mechanism enabling its dual functions of promoting rice growth and improving stress tolerance. These results deepen insights into the yield-increasing effects of protein hydrolysates in rice, and offer both theoretical support and practical recommendations for their application in rice cultivation.
Keywords: rice, Protein Hydrolysates, Yield improvement, Stress Tolerance, Transcriptome
Received: 21 Jun 2025; Accepted: 18 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Tang, Xing, Wang, Zhang, Wu, Huang, Chen and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jilin Wang, wangjilin1982@jxaas.cn
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