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In recent decades, global crop production is being threatened by contamination of arable lands with vanadium (V). Among many stress-relief substances, melatonin (ME) is a widely studied biomolecule acting as an antioxidant under stress conditions. The current study was aimed to investigate the response of tomato seedlings towards vanadium stress, along with the circumventing role of ME by promoting V stress tolerance in tomato seedlings. Our results revealed that accentuated inhibition of growth and biomass were caused by V (40 mg/L) stress, mainly due to impairments of photosynthetic systems, root traits, and mineral homeostasis. Conversely, notable reinforcement of plant growth parameters was seen with ME (100 µM) application, with improved chlorophyll content, root morphology, mineral nutrient homeostasis, and gas exchange parameters, along with reduced V accumulation. Further, ME …