Merging Heat Stress Tolerance and Health-Promoting Properties: The Effects of Exogenous Arginine in Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.).

Jacinta Collado-González,Ginés Otálora,Francisco M Del Amor,María Carmen Piñero,Josefa López-Marín

doi:10.3390/foods10010030

Jacinta Collado-González, Ginés Otálora + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10010030

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Abstract

In the last decades, cauliflower consumption has increased due to its observed beneficial effects on human health, especially on chronic diseases. Furthermore, the use of arginine has been shown to improve the heat stress tolerance of plants by increasing the polyamine content. Thus, we aimed to investigate the effects of the exogenous application of arginine on the physical and chemical quality parameters of cauliflower florets under heat stress. For this, we applied two concentrations of arginine (1 and 4 mM) to the leaves of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) plants grown in three different temperatures (ambient, elevated, and extreme). Our data show that potassium and phosphate, as well as iron were the most abundant macro- and micronutrients, respectively. The combination of high temperature and exogenous application of arginine increased the antioxidant activity, total content of phenolic compounds, polyamines, and proteins. The data presented herein indicate that the combination of an adequate heat stress and the appropriate foliar arginine treatment may be a useful strategy that could be used to increase the number of valuable plant compounds in our diet.

Highlights

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is a very important vegetable crop that belongs to the Brassica family [1]
Our data have shown that the foliar application of arginine, regardless of its concentration (1 or 4 mM), before heat stress enhanced the accumulation of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, and zinc, and reduced the accumulation of sodium, highlighting the osmoregulatory role of arginine
The reduction in the content of sugars and proteins in the absence of the foliar application may be mainly ascribed to an increase in starch biosynthesis, and protein denaturation and inhibition of protein synthesis, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) is a very important vegetable crop that belongs to the Brassica family [1]. Botrytis L.) is a very important vegetable crop that belongs to the Brassica family [1]. This family is named Cruciferae, and it is comprised of several crop species with important nutritional benefits for the human diet [2]. High temperature is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affect the cultivation of many plant species [3]. It induces a set of physiological and biochemical reactions in plants, with unfavorable effects such as oxidative stress. It is important to explore in-depth how heat stress can affect plant production and quality in order to find new strategies associated with adaptation to the climate change scenario

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