Abstract
Broccoli contains high levels of bioactive molecules and is considered a functional food. In this study, postharvest treatments to enhance the concentration of glucosinolates and phenolic compounds were evaluated. Broccoli whole heads were wounded to obtain florets and wounded florets (florets cut into four even pieces) and stored for 24 h at 20 °C with or without exogenous ethylene (ET, 1000 ppm) or methyl jasmonate (MeJA, 250 ppm). Whole heads were used as a control for wounding treatments. Regarding glucosinolate accumulation, ET selectively induced the 4-hydroxylation of glucobrassicin in whole heads, resulting in ∼223% higher 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin than time 0 h samples. Additionally, glucoraphanin was increased by ∼53% in whole heads treated with ET, while neoglucobrassicin was greatly accumulated in wounded florets treated with ET or MeJA, showing increases of ∼193 and ∼286%, respectively. On the other hand, although only whole heads stored without phytohormones showed higher concentrations of phenolic compounds, which was reflected in ∼33, ∼30, and ∼46% higher levels of 1,2,2-trisinapoylgentiobose, 1,2-diferulolylgentiobiose, and 1,2-disinapoyl-2-ferulolylgentiobiose, respectively; broccoli florets stored under air control conditions showed enhanced concentrations of 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 1,2-disinapoylgentiobiose, and 1,2-disinapoyl-2-ferulolylgentiobiose (∼22, ∼185, and ∼65% more, respectively). Furthermore, exogenous ET and MeJA impeded individual phenolics accumulation. Results allowed the elucidation of simple and effective postharvest treatment to enhance the content of individual glucosinolates and phenolic compounds in broccoli. The stressed-broccoli tissue could be subjected to downstream processing in order to extract and purify bioactive molecules with applications in the dietary supplements, agrochemical and cosmetics markets.
Highlights
The identification of individual phenolic compounds present in broccoli treated with or without wounding and phytohormones is shown in Figure 1 and Table 1
The chemical structure of individual phenolic compounds identified are shown in Figure 2 and included 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3-O-CQA), 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5-O-CQA, compound 2), 1,2-disinapoylgentiobiose (1,2-DSG, compound 3), 1sinapoyl-2-ferulolylgentiobiose (1-S-2-FG, compound 4), 1,2,2-trisinapoylgentiobiose (1,2,2-TSG, compound 5), Analysis of Desulfoglucosinolates by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-Electrospray Ionization (ESI)-MSn
Results presented showed that simple postharvest treatments such as wounding applied alone or in combination with exogenous phytohoromnes (ET and methyl jasmonate (MeJA)) can be used as an effective emerging technology that allows the accumulation of specific glucosinolate and phenolic compounds in broccoli
Summary
Italica) is a very important crop in economic terms. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations statistical database (FAOSTAT), in the year 2013 ∼22 million tons of broccoli and cauliflowers were produced worldwide. Broccoli production and consumption per capita has greatly increased over the last two decades. From 1993, broccoli worldwide production augmented by ∼120% (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations [FAOSTAT], n.d.), whereas broccoli consumption per capita increased by ∼50% in the United States (Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System [ERS], n.d.). The increased economic importance of broccoli is in part due to an increase in the number of consumers interested in eating more functional foods (Agricultural Marketing Resource Center [AgMRC], n.d.)
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