The future of salicylic acid in agriculture lies in precision priming
- 1Department of Plant Pathology, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University
Abstract
As the world is moving towards enforcing strict regulations against pesticides, plant hormones triggering natural defenses represent a foundation of sustainable agriculture. Among them, Salicylic acid (SA) is a major phytohormone for governing systemic acquired resistance (SAR), a broad-spectrum immune response, against hemibiotrophic and biotrophic pathogens. Although it has huge potential as a sustainable alternative to synthetic pesticides, its field efficacy lags, with inconsistent disease control, phytotoxicity, and significant yield loss. This review gathers emerging evidence to explain the inconsistency of SA-mediated disease control under field conditions and proposes priming-based frameworks to improve reliability in crop protection systems. It focuses on two underexplored areas. First, the metabolic and hormonal basis of the growth-defense trade-off. Second, the climate-induced signaling failure, where elevated temperatures disrupt the SA transcriptional machinery. Simultaneously, the review explores emerging innovative strategies, such as nano-formulations for controlled release, synthetic analogues with enhanced stability, and the paradigm shift from direct induction to molecular priming to solve the existing problems. By integrating findings from the model and crop species, we infer that the future of SA in agriculture does not lie in direct, high-dose application in the field. Instead, it lies in the development of intelligent, climate-resilient priming systems that work in alignment with plant biology.
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BibTeX
@article{paudel2026future,
title = {{The future of salicylic acid in agriculture lies in precision priming}},
author = {Laxmi Kanta Paudel and Prashant P. Jambhulkar},
journal = {Discover Plants},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s44372-026-00986-2},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s44372-026-00986-2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The future of salicylic acid in agriculture lies in precision priming
AU - Laxmi Kanta Paudel
AU - Prashant P. Jambhulkar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/25
JO - Discover Plants
DO - 10.1007/s44372-026-00986-2
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s44372-026-00986-2
AB - As the world is moving towards enforcing strict regulations against pesticides, plant hormones triggering natural defenses represent a foundation of sustainable agriculture. Among them, Salicylic acid (SA) is a major phytohormone for governing systemic acquired resistance (SAR), a broad-spectrum immune response, against hemibiotrophic and biotrophic pathogens. Although it has huge potential as a sustainable alternative to synthetic pesticides, its field efficacy lags, with inconsistent disease control, phytotoxicity, and significant yield loss. This review gathers emerging evidence to explain the inconsistency of SA-mediated disease control under field conditions and proposes priming-based frameworks to improve reliability in crop protection systems. It focuses on two underexplored areas. First, the metabolic and hormonal basis of the growth-defense trade-off. Second, the climate-induced signaling failure, where elevated temperatures disrupt the SA transcriptional machinery. Simultaneously, the review explores emerging innovative strategies, such as nano-formulations for controlled release, synthetic analogues with enhanced stability, and the paradigm shift from direct induction to molecular priming to solve the existing problems. By integrating findings from the model and crop species, we infer that the future of SA in agriculture does not lie in direct, high-dose application in the field. Instead, it lies in the development of intelligent, climate-resilient priming systems that work in alignment with plant biology.
SN - 3005-1207
ER -