Abstract
Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) regulate the production of biologically active compounds in plants and stimulate the accumulation of plant aromatic substances. However, the underlying mechanisms of how MeJA and SA influence characteristic flavor compounds and the antioxidant activity of vegetables are poorly understood. Five MeJA and SA concentrations were used to investigate the dose-dependent effects of these phytohormones on the dry and fresh weight; chlorophyll abundance; the contents of vitamin C, soluble protein, and sugar, nitrate, total phenols, flavonoids, volatile components, and enzymatically produced pyruvic acid; and antioxidant activity in Chinese chive. We found that MeJA and SA at concentrations of 500 and 150 μM, respectively, significantly increased the levels of total chlorophyll, phenols and flavonoids, vitamin C, and volatile components and significantly reduced the accumulation of nitrate. In addition, compared with the control, 500 μM of MeJA significantly increased the soluble sugar and protein content, and 150 μM SA significantly increased the dry and fresh weight of Chinese chive. Furthermore, these concentrations of MeJA and SA significantly increased the enzymatic pyruvate content and the amount of sulfide and aromatic volatile compounds and improved the characteristic flavor compounds. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity, Trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity, and ferric-reducing antioxidant capacity were significantly improved after a preharvest treatment with 500 μM MeJA and 150 μM SA, which could improve the antioxidant activity, thus improving the postharvest quality and preservation characteristics of Chinese chives. Taken together, a preharvest treatment with 500 μM MeJA and 150 μM SA is optimal to improve the growth, quality, antioxidant activity, and flavor of Chinese chive, thereby enhancing its commercial value.
Highlights
Fruits and vegetables contain a large amount of nutrients required by the human body, and their minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants are important for maintaining human health
Our results showed that the contents of vitamin C, soluble sugar, soluble protein, total phenol, and flavonoid in Chinese chives treated with Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) (500 μM) preharvest were significantly higher than those in the control (Figures 3A–C, 4), which was similar to the results of Min et al (2021)
We found that in addition to W1C and W5S, the relative resistivity of the other eight sensors treated with 500 μM MeJA was increased compared with that of the control sensors (Figure 5C), which indicated that treatment with this concentration of MeJA increased the content of most of the volatile components in Chinese chives, such as ammonia-based aromatic components (W3C), organic sulfides (W2W), hydrides (W6S), methyl groups (W1S), sulfides (W1W), alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones (W2S), short-chain alkane aromatic components (W5C), and long-chain alkanes (W3S)
Summary
Fruits and vegetables contain a large amount of nutrients required by the human body, and their minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants are important for maintaining human health. Plants play a key role in maintaining a balanced diet and in well-being (Gbska et al, 2020). Carotenoids, alkaloids, and organosulfur compounds are the main phytochemical categories (Liu, 2004). Organosulfur compounds are the main flavor precursors of Allium plants, and they endow Allium vegetables with great nutritional and medicinal value (Jones, 2004; Yabuki et al, 2010). Phenolics and flavonoids play an important role as antioxidants in raw food materials (Nayak et al, 2013; Ahmed and Eun, 2017). The nutritional value of vegetables is greatly improved (Soppelsa et al, 2018)
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