Systemic role of melatonin in enhancing temperature stress tolerance in fenugreek: coordination of antioxidant defense, hormonal regulation, energy status, sulfur metabolism, and diosgenin pathway genes

Collectively, melatonin enhanced fenugreek's tolerance to temperature stress by modulating photosynthetic efficiency, antioxidant defense mechanisms, hormonal balance, sulfur metabolism, and energy homeostasis, highlighting its potential as an effective stress-mitigating agent. Overall, our findings indicated that melatonin functions not only as an antioxidant but also as a central regulator coordinating hormonal signaling, redox balance, and energy metabolism. Future studies incorporating metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses may further substantiate these findings, providing more comprehensive insights into the mechanistic role of melatonin in plant stress adaptation.