Epiphytic Microbial Community and Post-Harvest Characteristics of Strawberry Fruits as Affected by Plant Nutritional Regime with Silicon

Abstract

Despite being not essential to plants, Silicon (Si) has proven to have promoting effects on plants growth, yield, and resistance against biotic and abiotic stressors. The increase of concentration in specific minerals in plant tissues can also improve shelf-life, which, in fruits like strawberries, is also affected by the epiphytic microbial community. The present research was carried out to assess whether Si biofortification of strawberry plants, grown in soilless system, could affect plants yield and post-harvest feature of fruits during the storage period, carried out at three different temperatures (i.e., 1, 4 and 10 °C) for 7 and 14 days. Furthermore, we investigated whether the plant nutritional regime, specifically the Si fertilization, can impact the composition of microbial community. Our results showed that biofortification did not significantly affect fruits firmness, whereas, at the highest Si levels, an increase in titratable acidity was observed. The microbial community analysis highlighted for the first time the presence of probiotic bacteria, as Bacillus breve, which could present interesting technological features as strains adapted to the strawberry fruit-sphere. In addition, with the increasing levels of Si biofortification, the depletion of potentially pathogenic microorganisms, like Escherichia coli and Terrisporobacter glycolicus, was also observed. In conclusion, data here reported highlight for the first time the possible role played by the nutritional regimes of strawberry plants in shaping composition of the fruit epiphytic microbial community.

Current Acquaintance on Agronomic Biofortification to Modulate the Yield and Functional Value of Vegetable Crops: A Review

“…Montesano et al [28] reported that green bean plants biofortified with Si did not display a difference in yield, number of pods, and mean dry matter percentage compared to the control. Conversely, Valentinuzzi et al [175] found a reduction in shoot and root fresh weight, leaf area, average yield per plant, average of berry per plant, and average berry weight of strawberry plants biofortified with Si compared to the control. Moreover, Hidalgo-Santiago et al [176] found that Si-application boosts growth parameters in water stress conditions, and concomitantly, the biofortification reduces lipid peroxidation, H 2 O 2 levels, proline accumulation, and protects photosynthesis performance.…”

Biofortification as a solution for addressing nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition

“… S·NO. Agriculture produces Technique used Genes incorporated Type of fortification Health benefits Reference Fruits 1 Banana Genetic engineering PSY gene ( PSY2a ) beta carotene To alleviate vitamin A deficiency [ 155 ] In vitro Polyploidization – Vitamin A Prevent night blindness, vision improvement [ 155 , 156 ] Genetic engineering Apsy2a gene pro-vitamin A carotenoids (pVAC) Overcome vitamin A deficiency [ 155 ] 2 Strawberry Agronomic – Selenium Antioxidant properties [ 157 ] Microbial approach – Selenium Antioxidant properties [ 158 ] Agronomic – Silicon Nutraceutical qualities of the fruits [ 159 ] 3 Apple Agronomic – Selenium Antioxidant properties [ 160 ] Genetic engineering …”