Abstract
The present investigation was aimed at evaluating the impact of earthworm grazed and Trichoderma harzianum biofortified spent mushroom substrate (SMS) on natural antioxidant and nutritional properties of tomato. Results of the investigation reveal that earthworm grazing and T. harzianum bio-fortification led to significant improvement in the physico-chemical properties of fresh SMS and its application increased the accumulation of natural antioxidants and mineral content in tomato as compared to either T. harzianum biofortified SMS or fresh SMS. In particular, the earthworm grazed, T. harzianum biofortified SMS (EGTHB-SMS) was found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation with significant increase in total polyphenol and flavonoid content in tomato. Further, it increased Fe2+/Fe3+ chelating activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity compared to other treatments. The results thus suggest an augmented elicitation of natural antioxidant properties in tomato treated with EGTHB-SMS, resulting in a higher radical scavenging activity, that is highly desirable for human health. In addition, the use of SMS to enhance the nutritional value of tomato fruits becomes an environment friendly approach in sustainable crop production.
Highlights
People are increasingly becoming more conscious about their health and more attention is being paid to the nutritional value of human diet with an eye on role of mineral nutrients and antioxidants in health
Marginal increase was recorded with respect to nitrogen content, whereas phosphorus and potassium content were significantly higher in EGTHB-spent mushroom substrate (SMS) (1.79 and 285.50, respectively) over only T. harzianum biofortified SMS (THB-SMS) (1.65 and 256.25, respectively), earthworm grazed SMS (EG-SMS) (1.25 and 241.50, respectively) and fresh SMS (1.18 and 231.0, respectively)
Results showed that plants treated with EGTHB-SMS produced significantly higher number of fruits per plants and yield (25.75 and 1.69 kg/plant, respectively) as compared to other treatments including plants treated with only THB-SMS (21.67 and 1.55 kg/plant, respectively), EG-SMS (18.15 and 1.45 kg/plant, respectively), fresh SMS (18.35 and 1.45 kg/plant, respectively) and control (14.52 and 1.25 kg/plant, respectively) under nethouse conditions after final harvest
Summary
People are increasingly becoming more conscious about their health and more attention is being paid to the nutritional value of human diet with an eye on role of mineral nutrients and antioxidants in health. Effects of Trichoderma harzianum on Tomato due to imbalance in the antioxidant and prooxidant homeostasis in human body (Nautiyal et al, 2008). Such conditions dominate either due to increased generation of free radicals (FRs) caused by excessive oxidative stress or due to poor scavenging/quenching of FRs in the body (Bhanja et al, 2009; Ahmad et al, 2016). The major target sites for ROS and FRs are the cellular membrane lipids, proteins and DNA and they cause alterations in membrane structure and its function (Ahmad et al, 2016). Due to the apparent toxicity of synthetic antioxidants, currently, the interest of the society in natural antioxidants is increasing day by day (Huang and Wang, 2004)
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