Melatonin reprograms soil microbial community, creates friendly soil environments, and promotes peanut growth

Melatonin helps to regulate various physiological processes in plants, including growth, seed germination, and stress responses. However, the mechanism of how melatonin treatments affect soil microbe diversity and ecology, and plant growth needs to be better understood. Here, we report that melatonin coordinates interactions between soil microorganisms and root exudates to create a friendly soil environment for peanut growth under a controlled environment. Interestingly, the results showed that melatonin was capable of regulating the structure of the soil microbial community, improving its relative abundance of beneficial microorganisms (such as Sphingomonas, Trichoderma, and Penicillium) in the soil. Furthermore, melatonin could also change the composition of soil metabolites and nutrients. These altered soil profiles reflected a healthy environment for peanuts created by melatonin. Furthermore, the favorable growing environment increased photosynthetic performance, biomass, and peanut yield. Collectively, our findings will help us better understand the role of melatonin as a bioregulator in maintaining a healthy plant growth environment. Melatonin treatments improved soil microbe biodiversity and enhanced plant growth and development and sustainable agricultural development. •Melatonin reprograms soil microbial community.•Melatonin coordinates the interaction between soil microorganisms and root exudates.•Melatonin regulate the soil rhizosphere microenvironment.•Melatonin enhances plant photosynthesis and biomass.•Melatonin-affected secondary metabolites promote the absorption of nutrients by plants.