Improvement of the nutraceutical quality of broccoli sprouts by elicitation

Abstract

Epidemiological studies show an inverse association between Brassica consumption and chronic diseases. Phytochemicals are thought to be beneficial for human health and therefore responsible for this protective effect. Increasing their levels into Brassica food is considered an expedient nutritional strategy that can be achieved through the manipulation of growth conditions by elicitors. In this work we systematically evaluated the influence of treatment with different elicitors (sucrose, mannitol, NaCl, 1-aminocyclopropane-L-carboxylic acid, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate) on the phytochemical composition of broccoli sprouts. The content of total and single glucosinolates, total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins, vitamin C and E and β-carotene was assessed. The exposure to different elicitors produced concentration- and elicitor-dependent specific changes in the content of all the phytochemicals considered. Sucrose, identified as the most effective elicitor by principal component analysis, induced a significant increase of total and specific glucosinolates, vitamin C, total anthocyanins and polyphenols. Sucrose is likely to represent an effective tool to increase the nutritional value of broccoli sprouts.

Use of elicitation in the cultivation of Bimi® for food and ingredients

“…Elicitors, as stimulants, can also affect other pathways not studied in this work (such as flavonoids or vitamin C), determining the differing behavior of the individual GLSs. 55 In our work, in the inflorescences samples at 15 and 30 min, treatment with SA + MeJA gave the highest concentrations of total GLSs (Fig. 2(B)), whereas for the leaf samples, at 15 min, the highest concentration was found for the MeJA treatment ( Fig.…”

“…As we have observed in our experiments, elicitation of the starting material influences the GLSs concentration and content of the subsequent extracts. Elicitors, as stimulants, can also affect other pathways not studied in this work (such as flavonoids or vitamin C), determining the differing behavior of the individual GLSs . In our work, in the inflorescences samples at 15 and 30 min, treatment with SA + MeJA gave the highest concentrations of total GLSs (Fig.…”

Regulation of Banana Phytoene Synthase (MaPSY) Expression, Characterization and Their Modulation under Various Abiotic Stress Conditions

“…Furthermore, MeJA has been reported to enhance the β-carotene content in broccoli sprouts (Natella et al, 2016) and in mango (Muengkaew et al, 2016). Impositions of SA and MeJA on banana plantlets showed positive modulation of MaPSY1 with respect to other genes, delineating its role in plant development, physiology and antioxidant defense mechanism.…”

Nutraceutical Improvement Increases the Protective Activity of Broccoli Sprout Juice in a Human Intestinal Cell Model of Gut Inflammation

“…In this work, sprouts where chosen as they are naturally enriched in bioactive molecules compared to the corresponding mature vegetable [ 18 ], they can be grown under fully controlled environmental conditions, and can easily be treated with elicitors to deliberately and specifically modify their phytochemical content. We found that treatment with sucrose that had been previously reported to elicit the accumulation of glucosinolate and phenolic compounds and to trigger the synthesis of anthocyanins in broccoli sprouts [ 43 , 44 , 45 ] provides the most significant overall effect on phytochemical composition of broccoli sprouts [ 13 ].…”

“…Therefore, elicitation, i.e., manipulation of growth conditions to trigger the synthesis and accumulation of bioactive secondary metabolites, can be considered a good strategy for functional enrichment of plant-derived foods [ 12 ]. Recently, by systematic evaluation of many different elicitors, we have identified sucrose as the elicitor that provides the most significant overall effect on phytochemical composition of young broccoli seedlings [ 13 ].…”