Abstract
Recently, a novel concept ‘bio-effectors’ rose on to describe a group of products that are able to improve plant performance rather than fertilizers. Agro-food processing residues and by-products potentially represent important sources of bio-effectors but they are currently not properly taken in consideration. To fulfill this gap, in these study, three food processing by-products: (i) brewers' spent grain, (ii) fennel processing residues, and (iii) lemon processing residues were chosen as bio-effector candidates. Raw materials were chemically characterized, and green extraction methodology was optimized by using water, ethanol, and their mixture based on the extraction yields. Aqueous extracts were used for seed germination bioassays on Lepidium sativum seeds to evaluate their potential bioactivities. Thereafter, the extracts were chemically characterized and metabolites were detected by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Results are summarized as follows: (i) raw materials showed an interesting nutritional content; (ii) aqueous extraction resulted higher yield more than other used solvent; (iii) at high solvent extraction ratio, aqueous extracts were not phytotoxic but enhanced seed germination and root elongation; (iv) all aqueous extracts are differently rich in nutrients, amino-acids, sugars, and other low molecular weight molecule compounds. This study confirmed that efficient and simple recovery of bioactive compounds other than nutrients from agro-food processing by-products appear to be the new frontier in their valorization.
Highlights
A novel concept ‘bio-effectors’ rose on to describe a group of products that are able to improve plant performance rather than fertilizers
The main objectives of this work are: (i) to explore some promising bio-effector candidates which can be used in agriculture, (ii) to develop more environmentfriendly alternatives for plant nutrition strategies such as green extraction technology applied to agro-food processing residues and by-products, and (iii) to chemically characterize the metabolic profile of the extracts for the chosen materials by using high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
brewers spent grain (BSG) raw material is rich in total Cu, total Fe, and total Zn
Summary
A novel concept ‘bio-effectors’ rose on to describe a group of products that are able to improve plant performance rather than fertilizers. Agro-food processing residues and by-products potentially represent important sources of bio-effectors but they are currently not properly taken in consideration. The most common bio-effector present in the market with a considerable amount produced annually (15 million metric tons) is seaweeds extract, its collection and handling is difficult [3]. Another one is humic substances that are produced intensively from lignite coal which is a nonrenewable source [4]. New candidates could be agro-food residues and by-products because they may contain bioactive compounds like proteins, sugars and lipids, and specific aromatic and aliphatic compounds
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