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Wall rocket (Diplotaxis erucoides) is a wild vegetable with the potential to become a crop of high antioxidant quality. The main bioactive compounds include ascorbic acid (AA), sinigrin, and a high content of total phenolic compounds (TP). It also accumulates nitrates. Since these compounds are affected by environmental conditions, adequate crop management may enhance its quality. Eleven accessions of wall rocket were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions during two cycles (winter and spring) and compared to Eruca sativa and Diplotaxis tenuifolia crops. The three species did not differ greatly. As an exception, sinigrin was only identified in wall rocket. For the within-species analysis, the results revealed a high effect of the growing system, but this was low among accessions. The highest contents of AA and TP were obtained under field conditions. In addition, the levels of nitrates were lower in this system. A negative correlation between nitrates and antioxidants was determined. As a counterpart, cultivation in the field–winter environment significantly decreased the percentage of humidity (87%). These results are of relevance for the adaptation of wall rocket to different growing conditions and suggest that the field system enhances its quality. The low genotypic differences suggest that intra-species selections in breeding programs may consider other aspects with greater variation.

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BackgroundFool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum) is an edible vegetable with potential as a new crop. However, little information is available regarding the antioxidant properties of the plant and the individual phenolics accounting for this capacity are unknown.MethodsThe antioxidant properties of twenty-five wild populations were analysed and individual phenolics present in the species reported and compared with celery and parsley. The antioxidant activity was measured as the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging capacity, and the total phenolics content (TPC) via the Folin-Ciocalteu procedure. The individual phenolics constituents were determined via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as aglycones.ResultsThe average DPPH and TPC of fool’s watercress were 28.1 mg Trolox g−1 DW and 22.3 mg of chlorogenic acid equivalents g−1 DW, respectively, much higher than those of celery and parsley. Significant differences for both DPPH and TPC, which may be explained by either genotype or environmental factors, were detected among groups established according to geographical origin. Quercetin was identified as the major phenolic present in the leaves of the species, unlike parsley and celery, in which high amounts of apigenin and luteolin were determined. Quercetin represented 61.6% of the phenolics targeted in fool’s watercress, followed by caffeic acid derivatives as main hydroxycinnamic acids.DiscussionThe study reports the high antioxidant properties of fool’s watercress based on a large number of populations. Results suggest that quercetin accounts for an important share of the antioxidant capacity of this potential new crop. The study also provides a basis for future breeding programs, suggesting that selection by geographical locations may result in differences in the antioxidant properties.

The wild species Solanum incanum has been used as a donor parent for the development of a set of eggplant introgression lines (ILs), which are of interest for breeding for stress tolerances and relevant morpho-agronomic traits but could also be useful for breeding for fruit quality, due to the generally higher content in health-promoting compounds of S. incanum. The use of eggplant ILs with introgressions from S. incanum requires ensuring that glycoalkaloids levels are below safety limits. We evaluated 25 fruit composition traits, including proximate composition, sugars, acids, phenolics, glycoalkaloids, and minerals in a set of 16 eggplant ILs with S. incanum, both parents and the F1, grown under two environments (open field and screenhouse). The results demonstrated that the parents were significantly different regarding most fruit composition traits. Large variation was found among the 16 ILs for all traits analyzed and a strong influence of the environment accounted for the variation of 17 out of the 25 traits evaluated. Although the S. incanum parent produced fruits with high levels of glycoalkaloids, the 16 ILs showed mean values of total glycoalkaloids below the currently accepted safety limit for human consumption (200 mg kg−1 fresh weight). Overall, the ILs produced fruits that are safe for consumption, with nutritional and functional quality similar to the recipient parent. Furthermore, six putative QTLs were detected spread over chromosomes 3 for crude protein, 5 for malic and total acids, and 7 for chlorogenic acid and solamargine, and potential candidate genes were spotted for most of them, which provide new relevant information for eggplant breeding.