Extreme temperatures can severely disrupt plant growth.
Heat can damage proteins and membranes, inhibit photosynthesis and increase water loss. Cold can restrict metabolism, alter membrane function and cause chilling or freezing injury.
Although heat and cold affect plants differently, they share an important consequence: both can create severe cellular and oxidative stress.
Trehalose has attracted increasing research interest because of its ability to protect biological structures and influence the plant's wider stress response.
A 2026 meta-analysis of externally applied trehalose identified nine studies involving cold stress and five involving heat stress, while a dedicated 2024 review concluded that trehalose can influence physiological, metabolic and molecular responses to both temperature extremes.[1,2]
Recent work has strengthened this evidence further, including a 2026 field study showing improved heat tolerance following foliar trehalose application.[3]
Why are temperature extremes damaging to plants?
Plants function within a limited temperature range.
When temperatures move outside that range, numerous biological processes can be disrupted at the same time.
Heat stress can cause:
- reduced photosynthesis
- damage to chloroplasts and photosystem II
- protein instability
- membrane disruption
- increased reactive oxygen species
- faster water loss
- impaired growth
- reduced flowering and reproductive success.
Cold stress can cause:
- reduced membrane fluidity
- inhibited enzyme activity
- restricted photosynthesis
- oxidative stress
- impaired nutrient and water transport
- chilling injury
- cellular membrane damage
- slower growth and establishment.
At sufficiently severe temperatures, either type of stress can substantially reduce crop yield or quality.
Trehalose appears to influence several of the systems plants use to manage these stresses, including cellular protection, antioxidant defence, photosynthesis and stress signalling.[1,2]
What does the overall research show?
The 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of exogenous trehalose under abiotic stress provides the broadest current overview.[1]
Among the 52 eligible studies:
- 9 investigated cold stress
- 5 investigated heat stress.[1]
Although this evidence base is smaller than that for drought or salinity, the overall results were positive across many measures of plant performance.
Trehalose treatment was associated with improvements in areas including:
- photosynthetic pigments
- photosystem performance
- antioxidant activity
- plant water status
- root and shoot growth
- membrane stability.[1]
The dedicated 2024 temperature-stress review similarly concluded that trehalose can help regulate plant responses to both heat and cold through a combination of physical protection and metabolic signalling.[2]
The evidence therefore supports temperature stress as a credible agricultural application, although practical treatment still depends heavily on crop, concentration and environmental conditions.
Trehalose and heat stress
Protecting photosynthesis during high temperatures
Photosynthesis is particularly vulnerable to heat.
One of the most sensitive components is photosystem II, or PSII, which captures light energy inside the chloroplast.
Heat can interfere with:
- electron transport
- ATP production
- chlorophyll
- reaction-centre proteins
- carbon fixation.
Research in winter wheat has shown that trehalose pretreatment can help protect PSII during heat stress.[4]
Trehalose-treated plants maintained better photochemical efficiency and electron transport than untreated heat-stressed plants.
The researchers also found increased:
- cyclic electron flow
- proton gradients across the thylakoid membrane
- ATPase activity.[4]
These processes help the chloroplast manage excess energy and maintain photosynthetic function during stress.
The study concluded that trehalose reduced heat-induced inhibition of PSII.[4]
Evidence from maize and wheat
Trehalose also appears to support the biochemical processes involved in carbon fixation.
A 2022 study compared maize and wheat seedlings under high-temperature conditions.[5]
In maize, externally supplied trehalose increased the activity and gene expression of several enzymes involved in the C4 photosynthetic pathway.
These included:
- phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase
- NADP-malate dehydrogenase
- NADP-malic enzyme
- pyruvate phosphate dikinase.
In wheat, which uses C3 photosynthesis rather than C4 photosynthesis, trehalose increased Rubisco activity.[5]
The important finding was that trehalose improved photosynthetic carbon assimilation in both crops, but through different physiological pathways.
That reinforces an important point:
Trehalose does not necessarily produce exactly the same response in every plant species.
Its effects depend on the plant's underlying metabolism.
Maintaining energy metabolism
Plant respiration can also become disrupted at high temperatures.
Research in wheat has examined how trehalose affects mitochondrial respiration during heat stress.[6]
Trehalose pretreatment increased activity in the plant's alternative respiration pathway, while helping maintain mitochondrial respiratory function and photosynthetic performance.[6]
The researchers proposed that this helped cells dissipate excess reducing power and maintain energy metabolism during heat stress.
This adds another layer to the evidence.
Trehalose's temperature-stress effects are not limited to protecting membranes externally. They can involve changes throughout the plant's energy and metabolic systems.
Recent field evidence: Ginkgo under heat stress
One of the most important recent studies was published in 2026.
Researchers investigated Ginkgo biloba under high-temperature conditions using 20 mM foliar trehalose.[3]
The work included both controlled experiments and summer field conditions.
Trehalose treatment:
- delayed wilting
- reduced the heat-injury index
- maintained chlorophyll
- increased antioxidant-enzyme activity
- reduced hydrogen peroxide
- reduced lipid-peroxidation damage
- helped maintain membrane integrity.[3]
The researchers also used transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis.
They found substantial changes in pathways associated with:
- cell-wall organisation
- antioxidant defence
- sugar metabolism
- flavonoids
- phenylpropanoids
- terpenoids
- cellular energy allocation.[3]
Trehalose therefore appeared to trigger a broad metabolic reorganisation rather than producing one isolated protective effect.
The inclusion of field testing makes this study particularly interesting for future agricultural development.
Antioxidant defence under heat stress
High temperature can cause rapid accumulation of reactive oxygen species.
These include:
- hydrogen peroxide
- superoxide radicals.
At excessive concentrations they can damage membranes, proteins and other cellular components.
Trehalose-treated plants frequently show greater activity of antioxidant enzymes such as:
- superoxide dismutase
- peroxidase
- catalase.[2,3]
In the Ginkgo study, these increases were accompanied by reduced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde, an indicator of lipid membrane damage.[3]
The evidence therefore suggests that strengthening the antioxidant system is one of the mechanisms through which trehalose can help plants cope with heat stress.
Trehalose and cold stress
Cold creates a different physiological challenge.
As temperature falls, cellular membranes become less fluid, enzymatic reactions slow and photosynthesis becomes less efficient.
Cold can also generate large amounts of reactive oxygen species.
Trehalose research in crops including tomato and melon has revealed a particularly interesting mechanism involving hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide signalling.
Evidence from tomato
A 2020 study investigated trehalose-treated tomato plants exposed to cold stress.[7]
Trehalose pretreatment increased activity in antioxidant systems including:
- superoxide dismutase
- catalase
- ascorbate peroxidase
- glutathione reductase.[7]
It also reduced cold-induced lipid peroxidation and helped alleviate growth inhibition.
More surprisingly, trehalose initially stimulated controlled production of:
- hydrogen peroxide
- nitric oxide.[7]
Although hydrogen peroxide is potentially damaging at high concentrations, plants also use it as a signalling molecule.
Experiments using compounds that removed hydrogen peroxide or nitric oxide substantially reduced the protective effect of trehalose.[7]
The researchers concluded that trehalose appears to use these molecules as signals that activate the plant's own antioxidant defence system.
That is an important distinction.
Trehalose does not simply neutralise oxidative stress directly.
It can also help prime the plant's own protective response.
Evidence from melon
Similar results have been demonstrated in melon.
Researchers compared cold-sensitive and more cold-tolerant melon varieties and examined the effects of externally applied trehalose.[8]
Trehalose increased:
- photosystem II efficiency
- antioxidant-enzyme activity
- hydrogen-peroxide signalling
- nitric-oxide signalling.[8]
At the same time, it reduced membrane damage caused by cold stress.
Trehalose performed differently from ordinary glucose and sucrose in the experiment, suggesting that the response was not simply caused by supplying plants with additional sugar.[8]
The researchers concluded that hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide form part of the signalling pathway through which trehalose improves cold tolerance.
New evidence on the plant's own trehalose pathway
Research published in 2026 has added important mechanistic evidence.[9]
Scientists investigating cold-stressed melon found that low temperature increased the plant's own production of trehalose.
Two genes involved in trehalose synthesis — CmTPP2 and CmTPP5 — became strongly activated during cold stress.[9]
When researchers suppressed these genes:
- trehalose concentrations fell
- antioxidant activity decreased
- lipid-peroxidation damage increased
- cold tolerance declined.[9]
The work also identified interaction between trehalose metabolism, hydrogen-peroxide signalling and the plant's CBF cold-response pathway.
This is important because it shows that trehalose is not merely an external substance capable of modifying plant stress tolerance.
It is also part of the plant's natural internal response to cold.
Protecting plant membranes
Both heat and cold can destabilise cellular membranes.
Heat increases membrane fluidity and can disrupt lipid organisation.
Cold has the opposite physical effect, making membranes more rigid.
Despite these differences, membrane damage is a common outcome.
Trehalose is particularly interesting because of its established ability to interact with water, proteins and membrane structures.
Research under both heat and cold conditions repeatedly reports reductions in lipid peroxidation and membrane leakage following trehalose treatment.[2,3,7–9]
This probably reflects two complementary processes:
- direct physicochemical protection of cellular structures; and
- activation of antioxidant and stress-response systems.
The combination may help explain why trehalose has been investigated across such different environmental stresses.
Protecting photosynthesis
Temperature stress can damage photosynthesis long before the plant dies.
Trehalose research repeatedly identifies effects on:
- chlorophyll
- photosystem II
- electron transport
- carbon fixation
- stomatal function
- energy metabolism.[2–5]
Under heat stress, trehalose helped protect electron transport and carbon assimilation in wheat, maize and Ginkgo.[3–5]
Under cold stress, melon research found improved PSII efficiency following trehalose treatment.[8]
Protecting photosynthesis may therefore be one of the most commercially important consequences of improved temperature tolerance.
A plant that remains photosynthetically active for longer has a greater opportunity to maintain growth when environmental conditions deteriorate.
Heat and cold are not the same stress
It is tempting to discuss “temperature tolerance” as though heat and cold are simply opposite versions of the same problem.
They are not.
Heat and cold affect:
- membranes differently
- enzyme kinetics differently
- water relations differently
- photosynthetic systems differently.
Nevertheless, they both create secondary problems involving:
- oxidative stress
- protein instability
- membrane damage
- metabolic disruption
- reduced photosynthesis.[2]
Trehalose appears to act partly on these shared downstream consequences, which helps explain why it can be beneficial under both extremes.
Trehalose is not always a growth promoter
The research also contains an important caution.
In a 2021 wheat experiment, 1.5 mM trehalose applied under high-temperature stress altered plant hormone concentrations and cell-cycle processes.[10]
Although trehalose is commonly associated with improved stress tolerance, treated wheat seedlings in this experiment showed reductions in:
- root length
- plant height
- leaf area
- leaf length.[10]
The researchers interpreted these changes as part of a broader adjustment in growth regulation under heat stress.
This is useful evidence because it demonstrates why trehalose should not simply be described as a universal growth enhancer.
Under stressful conditions, plants may prioritise survival and cellular protection over rapid growth.
Commercial agricultural development therefore needs to assess both:
- stress protection
- eventual crop performance.
How is trehalose applied for temperature stress?
Most research on externally supplied trehalose has used either:
- foliar spraying
- pretreatment before stress
- seed treatment
- root or nutrient-solution application.
Examples include:
| Study | Application |
|---|---|
| Ginkgo heat stress | 20 mM foliar trehalose |
| Wheat heat stress | 1.5 mM in one mechanistic experiment |
| Melon cold stress | foliar trehalose |
| Tomato cold stress | trehalose pretreatment |
These are experimental protocols, not universal agricultural instructions.[3,7,8,10]
The appropriate treatment depends on:
- crop
- cultivar
- developmental stage
- temperature
- duration of stress
- application route
- concentration
- timing
- formulation.
As with drought and salinity, there is no scientifically defensible single trehalose application rate for every crop.
Can trehalose prevent heat or frost damage?
Trehalose should not be interpreted as making crops immune to extreme temperatures.
No treatment can indefinitely protect plant tissues against sufficiently severe heat or freezing.
The research instead suggests that trehalose can help plants tolerate stressful temperatures more effectively, potentially delaying or reducing physiological damage.
The realistic agricultural objectives include:
- maintaining photosynthesis
- reducing oxidative injury
- protecting membranes
- supporting stress-response signalling
- improving recovery after temperature stress.
That is a substantially more defensible proposition than claiming that trehalose “prevents frost damage” or “protects crops from heatwaves”.
Potential use in horticulture
Temperature stress is particularly important in horticultural production.
Potentially relevant situations include:
- protected crops exposed to sudden temperature changes
- early-season cold events
- late-spring cold
- summer greenhouse heat
- nursery production
- transplant establishment
- heat-sensitive vegetables
- high-value fruit and ornamental crops.
The tomato, melon and Ginkgo studies indicate that trehalose may be particularly interesting where relatively high-value crops justify more sophisticated stress-management approaches.[3,7–9]
However, crop-specific trials remain necessary.
Temperature stress and climate resilience
Temperature extremes are becoming an increasingly important agricultural risk.
Heatwaves can cause rapid crop damage, while unusual cold events can affect crops outside their normal seasonal patterns.
Nagase Viita explicitly identifies high- and low-temperature stress among the agricultural problems relevant to plant biostimulant development and is actively investigating trehalose as a direct agricultural biostimulant.[11,12]
The company describes the objective as enhancing the plant's own resilience to difficult environmental conditions rather than replacing conventional agronomic management.[11]
This fits closely with the current scientific evidence.
From laboratory studies to agricultural use
The evidence for trehalose and temperature stress now includes:
- wheat
- maize
- tomato
- melon
- Ginkgo
- controlled-environment experiments
- physiological research
- molecular studies
- transcriptomics
- metabolomics
- field testing
- dedicated reviews
- meta-analysis.[1–9]
The main recurring mechanisms are:
Photosynthetic protection
Trehalose can help maintain photosystem II, electron transport and carbon assimilation.[3–5]
Antioxidant defence
Trehalose can increase antioxidant-enzyme activity and reduce damaging oxidative stress.[3,7–9]
Membrane protection
Trehalose treatment is repeatedly associated with lower lipid peroxidation and cellular injury.[3,7–9]
Stress signalling
Hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, plant hormones and trehalose-metabolism pathways appear to participate in trehalose-induced stress tolerance.[7–9]
Metabolic reprogramming
Recent transcriptomic and metabolomic research shows that trehalose can alter sugar metabolism, cellular defence and energy allocation during heat stress.[3]
Taken together, these mechanisms provide a credible biological basis for future trehalose-based temperature-stress products.
Agricultural-grade trehalose
Nagase Viita manufactures dedicated TREHALOSE Agricultural Grade for agricultural applications.[11]
Its wider agricultural development work includes trehalose as a potential direct plant biostimulant, alongside applications in microbial agricultural formulations.[12]
Temperature stress is specifically relevant to this positioning, with Nagase identifying both high- and low-temperature damage among the abiotic stresses that plant biostimulants may help address.[11]
Commercial formulations nevertheless require appropriate:
- crop testing
- concentration optimisation
- application protocols
- efficacy validation
- regulatory assessment.
Trehalose for agriculture and plant science
Research increasingly supports a role for trehalose in helping plants cope with temperature extremes.
The evidence does not show that trehalose makes plants immune to heat or cold.
It does support a more useful proposition:
Trehalose can help plants protect photosynthesis, strengthen antioxidant defence, maintain cellular structures and activate stress-response pathways when exposed to damaging temperatures.
Heat and cold remain less extensively studied than drought and salinity, but the evidence base is developing rapidly.
The addition of modern field studies and molecular research makes temperature stress an increasingly credible area for agricultural trehalose development.
Trehalose UK is developing its support for agricultural and plant-science applications of genuine Japanese trehalose.
For technical requirements, development quantities, product-grade enquiries or commercial supply, contact:
For further information, read:
Trehalose in Agriculture: Uses, Benefits & Research
Trehalose for Drought & Water Stress in Plants
Trehalose and Salinity Stress in Crops
References & further reading
[1] Adrielle Cristine Domingos Adão, Antônio Rodrigues da Cunha Neto, Marina Wolowski, and Thiago Corrêa de Souza. 2026. “Exogenous Trehalose Mitigates Abiotic Stress in Plants by Improving Morphophysiology: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology 29: 547–565. Systematic review and meta-analysis of 52 studies, including studies of both heat and cold stress. Read the study
[2] Ali Raza, Savita Bhardwaj, Md Atikur Rahman, et al. 2024. “Trehalose: A Sugar Molecule Involved in Temperature Stress Management in Plants.” The Crop Journal 12, no. 1: 1–16. DOI: 10.1016/j.cj.2023.09.010. Comprehensive review of trehalose in heat- and cold-stress responses. Read the review
[3] Jiawen Cui, Chunyan Wang, Xiang Li, Run Cui, Zhaogeng Lu, and Biao Jin. 2026. “Exogenous Trehalose Enhances Heat Tolerance in Ginkgo biloba by Activating GbTPS1-Mediated Sugar and Secondary Metabolism Pathways.” Industrial Crops and Products 241: 122801. DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2026.122801. Includes controlled experiments and a summer field trial using foliar trehalose. Read the study
[4] Y. Luo, Y. Xie, D. He, W. Wang, and S. Yuan. 2021. “Exogenous Trehalose Protects Photosystem II by Promoting Cyclic Electron Flow under Heat and Drought Stresses in Winter Wheat.” Plant Biology 23, no. 5: 770–776. DOI: 10.1111/plb.13277. Read the study
[5] Ziwei Zhang, Mei Sun, Yamin Gao, and Yin Luo. 2022. “Exogenous Trehalose Differently Improves Photosynthetic Carbon Assimilation Capacities in Maize and Wheat under Heat Stress.” Journal of Plant Interactions17: 361–370. DOI: 10.1080/17429145.2022.2041119. Read the study
[6] Yin Luo, X.-Y. Liu, Y.-J. Xue, X.-Y. Cao, J.-J. Liu, and M. Geng. 2021. “Respiration Responses of Wheat Seedlings to Treatment with Trehalose under Heat Stress.” Biologia Plantarum 65: 265–272. DOI: 10.32615/bp.2021.025. Read the study
[7] Tao Liu, Xueling Ye, Meng Li, Jianming Li, Hongyan Qi, and Xiaohui Hu. 2020. “H₂O₂ and NO Are Involved in Trehalose-Regulated Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Cold-Stressed Tomato Plants.” Environmental and Experimental Botany 171: 103961. DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2019.103961. Read the study
[8] Tao Liu, Jiali Shi, Meng Li, Xueling Ye, and Hongyan Qi. 2021. “Trehalose Triggers Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitric Oxide to Participate in Melon Seedlings Oxidative Stress Tolerance under Cold Stress.” Environmental and Experimental Botany 184: 104379. DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2021.104379. Read the study
[9] Tao Liu, Hongyi Zhang, Kexin Lu, et al. 2026. “CmABF3-CmTPP2/5 Modulates Trehalose-Mediated H₂O₂ Signaling and CBF-Dependent Pathway to Enhance Cold Tolerance in Melon Seedlings.” Horticulture Research. DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhag233. Read the study
[10] Yin Luo, Xueying Liu, and Weiqiang Li. 2021. “Exogenously-Supplied Trehalose Inhibits the Growth of Wheat Seedlings under High Temperature by Affecting Plant Hormone Levels and Cell Cycle Processes.” Plant Signaling & Behavior 16, no. 6: 1907043. DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2021.1907043. Provides useful evidence that stress protection and growth effects are not necessarily identical. Read the study
[11] Nagase Viita Co., Ltd. “Pioneering the Way to Making Sustainable Agriculture a Reality: Biostimulants Offering New Solutions.” Current manufacturer discussion of trehalose and agricultural stress tolerance, including high-temperature and cold damage. Read the Nagase article
[12] Nagase Viita Co., Ltd. 2026. “Trehalose-Based Agricultural Support Project Selected for JICA Biz Program (FY2025).” Describes trehalose as a direct plant-biostimulant material and indirect biological-formulation stabiliser. Read the Nagase announcement
The 2024 temperature-stress review, recent 2026 Ginkgo field work and the cold-stress tomato/melon studies all support the main mechanisms presented here while also showing that crop response depends strongly on treatment and species. ScienceDirect