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To evaluate the variations in the nutritional components of a broccoli cultivar under saline stress, two different NaCl concentrations (40 and 80 mM) were assayed. Glucosinolates, phenolic compounds, and ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acids (vitamin C) were analyzed by HPLC, and mineral composition was determined by ICP spectrophotometry. Qualitative differences were observed for several bioactive compounds depending on the plant organ and the intensity of the salt stress. Glucosinolate content showed the most significant increase in the florets; phenolic compounds also increased in the florets, whereas no variation in the vitamin C content was observed as a result of the saline treatments. The mineral composition of the edible parts of the inflorescences remained within the range of the recommended values for human consumption. Overall, the nutritional quality of the edible florets of broccoli was improved under moderate saline stress.

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The mechanisms of salt stress and tolerance have been targets for genetic engineering, focusing on ion transport and compartmentation, synthesis of compatible solutes (osmolytes and osmoprotectants) and oxidative protection. In this review, we consider the integrated response to salinity with respect to water uptake, involving aquaporin functionality. Therefore, we have concentrated on how salinity can be alleviated, in part, if a perfect knowledge of water uptake and transport for each particular crop and set of conditions is available.

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. Italica) is a recognised health-promoting vegetable, which is moderately sensitive to salinity. In this study, the primary response of broccoli plants (cv. Marathon) to salinity has been characterised. For this, leaf water relations, nutrient composition, root hydraulic conductivity (L 0 ) and the effect of mercury (an aquaporin blocker) on L 0 were determined for plants grown with 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 mM NaCl for 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks of treatment, the plants showed a two-phase growth response to salinity. During the first phase (1 week), growth reduction was high, probably related to water stress as no osmotic adjustment occurred and reductions of L 0 , the mercury effect and Gs were observed. After 2 weeks, the growth reduction could have resulted from internal injury caused by Na + or Cl ) , since osmotic adjustment was achieved and water relations plus the mercury effect were re-established to a high degree, indicating high aquaporin functionality. The fact that aquaporin functionality fits well with the overall water relations response is very relevant, since the two-phase adaptation to salinity may imply two types of aquaporin regulation.

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Cooking as a domestic processing method has a great impact on food nutrients. Most Brassica (Brassicaceae, Cruciferae) vegetables are mainly consumed after being cooked, and cooking considerably affects their health-promoting compounds (specifically, glucosinolates, phenolic compunds, minerals, and vitamin C studied here). The microwave cooking process presents controversial results in the literature due to the different conditions that are employed (time, power, and added water). Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the influence of these conditions during microwave cooking on the human bioactive compounds of broccoli. The results show a general decrease in the levels of all the studied compounds except for mineral nutrients which were stable under all cooking conditions. Vitamin C showed the greatest losses mainly because of degradation and leaching, whereas losses for phenolic compounds and glucosinolates were mainly due to leaching into water. In general, the longest microwave cooking time and the higher volume of cooking water should be avoided to minimize losses of nutrients.

WileyGarcía-Abellán, JO.; Fernández-García, N.; López-Berenguer, C.; Egea, I.; Flores, FB.; Angosto, T.; Capel, J.... (2015). The tomato res mutant which accumulates JA in roots in non-stressed conditions restores cell structure alterations under salinity. Physiologia Plantarum. 155(3): 296-314. doi:10.1111/ppl.12320. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/ppl.12320 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved Jasmonic acid (JA) regulates a wide spectrum of plant biological processes, from plant development to stress defense responses. The role of JA in plant response to salt stress is scarcely known, and even less known is the specific response in root, the main plant organ responsible for ionic uptake and transport to the shoot. Here we report the characterization of the first tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) mutant, named res (restored cell structure by salinity), that accumulates JA in roots prior to exposure to stress. The res tomato mutant presented remarkable growth inhibition and displayed important morphological alterations and cellular disorganization in roots and leaves under control conditions, while these alterations disappeared when the res mutant plants were grown under salt stress.Reciprocal grafting between res and wild type (WT) (tomato cv. Moneymaker) indicated that the main organ responsible for the development of alterations was the root. The JA-signaling pathway is activated in res roots prior to stress, with transcripts levels being even higher in control condition than in salinity. Future studies on this mutant will provide significant advances in the knowledge of JA role in root in salt stress tolerance response, as well as in the energy trade-off between plant growth and response to stress.Abbreviations -ANOVA, analysis of variance; COI1, coronatine insensitive 1; GC-MS, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry; ICP-OES, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry; JA, jasmonic acid; JAR1, jasmonoyl isoleucine conjugate synthase 1; JAZ1, jasmonate ZIM domain protein 1; LOXD, lipoxygenase D; LSD, least significant difference test;MeJA, methyl-jasmonate; MS, Murashige-Skoog medium; NaCl, sodium chloride; RH, relative humidity; SE, standard error; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; UBI, ubiquitin; WT, wild-type. IntroductionDevelopment of crops tolerant to stress is vital to meet the growing food demand through sustainable agriculture (Godfray et al. 2010), since traditional agriculture and conventional breeding cannot uphold this increasing demand, partly because of the increasing salt stress impact due to environmental and climatic changes (Shaik and Ramakrishna 2014). Indeed, increased salinization of arable land is expected to have devastat...