Bioactive Compounds in Sarcocornia and Arthrocnemum, Two Wild Halophilic Genera from the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

(1) Background: this study describes bioactive compounds in the following halophytes: Sarcocornia (S. alpini, S. pruinosa, and S. perennis) and Arthrocnemum (A. macrostachyum). The material comes from: coastal marshes in Tinto River, Guadiana River, and some interior provinces from the Iberian Peninsula. (2) Methods: the techniques used were Folin–Ciocalteu, GC-MS, and ESI-MS/MS. (3) Results: Five phenolic acids were found in Sarcocornia: trans-cinnamic, salicylic, veratric, coumaric, and caffeic acids. In addition, in Arthronemum, ferulic acid was also detected. The obtained flavonoids were cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside, luteolin-7-glucoside, dihydroquercetin, and p-coumaroyl-glucoside. They also presented fatty acids, such as palmitic, linoleic, and oleic acids in Sarcocornia, while palmitic, linolenic, and stearic acids were the main fatty acids in A. macrostachyum. (4) Conclusions: the high diversity of the compounds identified confirms the relation between nutritional interest and salt tolerance in halophytes.

Salicornia emerici Duval-Jouve and Sarcocornia alpini (Lag.) Rivas Mart. from Southern Tunisia: Potential Sources of Functional Ingredients with Nutritional and Health Promoting Benefits

“…Dried biomass from both species presented moisture contents of 6.32 and 8% DW, for S. alpini and S. emerici, respectively. These values were lower than the results reported for Sarcocornia alpini, Sarcocornia perennis, and Sarcocornia pruinosa from the Iberian Peninsula where values were between 10.18 and 14.78% [33]. This parameter re ects the drying process's ability (ambient air drying in our case) to remove residual water from dried plants, hence extending plant shelf life.…”

Seed priming to optimize germination in Arthrocnemum Moq.

“…In Spain it has also been very recently revalued based on the detection of bioactive compounds. [ 14 ] found phenolic acids (salicylic acid, veratric acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, transcinnamic acid and ferulic acid); flavonoids (p-Coumaroyl-glucoside, dihydroquercetin and luteolin) and numerous fatty acids, including palmitic acid, oleic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, behenic acid and lignoceric acid, among others. This great variety of bioactive compounds detected confers an additional nutritional and pharmacological value to the species A. macrostachyum due to its antioxidant properties and its contribution of essential fatty acids for the human diet and for livestock.…”

“…Scott and Arthrocnemum Moq. are being evaluated as emergent crops, especially due to their higher biomass and ability to thrive in soils with high salt concentrations [11][12][13][14].…”

“…Likewise, it could become a crucial element in saline agriculture for feeding livestock such as camels, sheep, or horses [23][24][25]. All these potential uses are based on the wide diversity of bioactive compounds found in Arthrocnemum plants, mainly rich in phenolic compounds, flavonoids, or fatty acids, among others [14]. Equally important in this plant's genus is the accumulation of inorganic salts and/or minerals in their tissues [11,26].…”

Wild Halophytes: Tools for Understanding Salt Tolerance Mechanisms of Plants and for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change

“…The paper by Sánchez-Gavilán et al [ 31 ] describes the phytochemical analysis of several Amaranthaceae species of the genera Sarcocornia ( S . alpini , S .…”