Use of elicitation in the cultivation of Bimi® for food and ingredients.

Abstract

Cruciferous foods rich in health-promoting metabolites are of particular interest to consumers as well as being a good source of bioactives-enriched ingredients. Several elicitors have been used to stimulate the biosynthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites in foods; however, little is known about the response of new hybrid varieties, such as Bimi®, under field-crop production conditions. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of salicylic acid (200 μmol L-1 , SA), methyl jasmonate (100 μmol L-1 , MeJA), and their combination on Bimi plant organs (inflorescences and aerial vegetative tissues - stems and leaves). For this, the composition of the glucosinolates present in the tissues was evaluated. Also, aqueous extracts of the plant material, obtained with different times of extraction with boiling water, were studied. The results indicate that the combined treatment (SA + MeJA) significantly increased the content of glucosinolates in the inflorescences and that MeJA was the most effective elicitor in leaves. Regarding the aqueous extracts, the greatest amount of glucosinolates was extracted at 30 min - except for the leaves elicited with MeJA, for which 15 min was optimal. The elicitation in the field enriched leaves in glucobrassicin (GB), 4-methoxyglucobrassicin (MGB), and neoglucobrassicin (NGB) and stems and inflorescences in glucoraphanin, 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin, GB, MGB, and NGB. In this way, this enhanced vegetable material favored the presence of bioactives in the extracts, which is of great interest regarding enriched foods and ingredients with added value obtained from them. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.