Salinity inhibits plant growth due to osmotic and ionic effects. However, little is known about the impact of genotype and salinity on biochemical and molecular processes in the leafy vegetable lettuce. We report here evaluations of two lettuce types, Verte (NaCl tolerant) and Romaine (NaCl sensitive), under iso-osmotic 100 mM NaCl and 77 mM Na(2)SO(4) treatments. As compared to Romaine, NaCl-treated Verte displayed better growth, contained lower levels of inorganic cations in leaves, and possessed superior antioxidative capacity due to enhanced carotenoid and phenolics biosynthesis and more active antioxidative enzymes resulting in reduced membrane damage. Both genotypes had relatively similar growth patterns under Na(2)SO(4) treatment, but Romaine showed enhanced root lignification, greater malondialdehyde formation, and suppressed Fe-superoxide dismutase expression in roots as compared with Verte.

In this study, a detailed phytochemical analysis of the medicinal herb Inula viscosa leaves was performed. Furthermore, in vitro antioxidant and antifungal properties of its methanolic extract were evaluated and compared with the corresponding phenolic profile obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Data obtained underscore the high amount of total lipids (6.14%) in leaves. Chromatographic analysis revealed its high content of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) with the essential ones α-linolenic and linoleic acids being the main compounds. It also showed good nutritional quality because of its high UFA/saturated fatty acid ratio and the lower values of atherogenic and thrombogenic indices. The volatile oil analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed the abundance of nonterpenic compounds, namely aliphatic alkanes. The total phenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were higher in I. viscosa leaves (103 mg GAE/g dw and 99 mg CE/g dw for TPC and TFC, respectively). The use of HPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS allowed the identification of 17 components with hydroxycinnamic acids, namely mono-and dicaffeoylquinic acids being the most prominent components. The presence of these phenolic compound conferred strong free radical scavenging and antifungal properties to the methanol extract. Therefore, I. viscosa leaves could be considered as an excellent source of food functional ingredients with high nutritional value and health benefits.

Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings were grown in hydroponic culture under controlled conditions in mediums with different NO 3 − /NH 4 + ratios. The mediums were not buffered, against pH change, but their pH was reset at pH 5.5 each 2 days. When ammoniacal N source was predominant, the whole plant biomass deposition was diminished, parallely to several parameters which revealed degraded leaf physiological status, such as leaf chlorosis associated with diminished chlorophyll content, lowered K + , Ca 2+ , and water content, along with restricted leaf expansion, and apparition of cellular stress symptoms. However, leaf functioning for biomass production did not seem affected, since biomass production rate per unit leaf surface area remained unchanged. Indeed, the main factor of decrease biomass production was leaf elimination and/or repression of leaf initiation. The results are discussed in the context of literature data on the effects of NH 4 + on ion fluxes at the root level and properties of K + transport systems in Arabidopsis. Disturbance of mineral (cationic) nutrition by NH 4 + seemed to be a major cause of the detrimental effect of ammoniacal nutrition.