Abstract
The berry crops in genus Vacciniun L. are the richest sources of antioxidant metabolites which have high potential to reduce the incidence of several degenerative diseases. In vitro propagation or micropropagation has been attractive to researchers for its incredible potential for mass production of a selected genotype in a short time, all year round. Propagation techniques affect the antioxidant activity in fruits and leaves. Total antioxidant activity was higher in the fruit of in vitro propagated plants compare to the plants grown ex vivo. This review provides critical information for better understanding the micropropagation and conventional propagation methods, and their effects on antioxidant properties and morphological differentiation in Vaccinium species, and fills an existing gap in the literature.
Highlights
The genus Vaccinium consists of about 450 species majority of which are widely spread on mountain slopes in the tropics, with the balance being distributed in subtropical, temperate and boreal regions of the northern hemisphere [1,2]
Despite the high demand of lowbush blueberry due to its health benefits, its major portion is commercially harvested from wild stands and conventionally propagated farms
Micropropagation of Vaccinium berry plants is well-established which could be an alternative tool for improving phytochemicals in these berry crops
Summary
The genus Vaccinium consists of about 450 species majority of which are widely spread on mountain slopes in the tropics, with the balance being distributed in subtropical, temperate and boreal regions of the northern hemisphere [1,2]. Vaccinium berries are characterized by fleshy small to medium-sized fruits with high levels of antioxidant compounds (phenolics, flavonoids, tannins), fruit colorants (anthocyanins and carotenoids), vitamins (ascorbic acid) and minerals [3]. Those fruits are widely renowned for their health benefits, reportedly due to their potent bioactive phenolic compounds which may interact (additively or synergistically) to ameliorate human health conditions [4]. Molecules 2020, 25, 788 glucose, fructose and galactose [9] In addition to these essential nutrients, these berries contain a wide range of organic acids, non-nutritive phytosterols such as sitosterol and stigmasterol; and antioxidant phenolic molecules such as phenolic acids, flavonols, flavanols, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins and ellagitannins (Table 1) [3,10,11,12]. Lingonberries are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus
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