Effect of abiotic elicitation on the quality and antioxidant potential of lettuce and endive during storage

Abstract

Changes in polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activities, total phenolic compounds (TPC), vitamin C content, antioxidant activity, as well as overall visual quality and color parameters occurring during 4 days of storage were evaluated in lettuce and endive elicited with jasmonic acid (JA) and arachidonic acid (AA). The content of ascorbic acid in elicited with 100 µM AA2 and jasmonic acid (1 µM—JA1 and 100 µM –JA2) lettuce leaves at the end of the storage was significantly higher than in the control. Surprisingly, the TPC content in control (not elicited) and elicited endive leaves was generally higher at the end of storage time. Additionally, AA1‐ and JA2‐elicited lettuce and JA2‐elicited endive stored for 4 days had statistically significantly better scores of overall acceptability in comparison to the control. Thus, the research undertaken in this article has shown that elicited vegetables can be used for production ready‐to‐eat salads. Practical applications Elicitation is a method of improving plant immunity and the health of plant food by inducing secondary metabolism. However, many secondary metabolites, such as phenolic compounds or plant defense enzymes induced by elicitation, can shape the quality and suitability of plant food storage. This study confirms the ability of elicitation to increase the health of leafy vegetables, but focused mainly on the possibility of using elicited vegetables in production of ready‐to‐use salads. The results obtained allow us to state that leafy vegetables (lettuce and endive) elicited with arachidonic acid and jasmonic acid may provide valuable material for the production of ready‐to‐eat salads because they are characterized by similar storage ability with simultaneous higher pro‐health quality.

Effect of Jasmonic Acid, Yeast Extract Elicitation, and Drying Methods on the Main Bioactive Compounds and Consumer Quality of Lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch)

“…In the case of green leafy plants, special attention has been focused on the a* index, which indicates green-red color. In our previous research, elicitation with arachidonic acid and jasmonic acid did not cause significant changes in the color parameters of fresh leafy vegetables like lettuce or endive [30,31]. The present study indicated that fresh lovage leaves elicited with YE were characterized by brighter color, and both the YE-elicited and JA-elicited plants had a greater proportion of yellow color compared to the control (Table 2).…”

Evaluation of the effect of jasmonic acid elicitation on composition of pigments and biological activities in green callus of neem (Azadirachta indica)

“…The highest antioxidant activity was exhibited by 50 and 100 mM elicitor-treated extract harvested on day 7 and 3, respectively, while the lowest antioxidant activity was exhibited by both 50 and 100 mM elicitor-treated extracts harvested on day 15 (Karalija et al, 2019). Another antioxidant potential study using lettuce and endive showed that, 1 µM of JA-treated samples had the highest antioxidant activity after being stored for 4 days while 100 µM of JA-treated samples had the highest antioxidant activity for lettuce and endive after being stored for 0 and 2 days, respectively (Złotek, 2017). In addition, cultures of A.…”