High Light Intensity Applied Shortly Before Harvest Improves Lettuce Nutritional Quality and Extends the Shelf Life

Min, Q.; Marcelis, L.F.M.; Nicole, Celine C.S.; Woltering, E.J.

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.615355

Cited by 50 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This may not be true of all varieties e.g., salad roquette [ 117 ]. Starch also correlated with improved shelf-life quality after light exposure to detached leaves in vegetables such as Chinese kale and lettuce [ 118 – 121 ]. The accessibility of sugars from the degraded starch may relate to leafy-green quality, and the upregulation of SBEs would convert amylose to the more catabolically available amylopectin, providing a more readily available source of sugar.…”

Section: Putative Role Of Sbes As Determinants Of Postharvest Quality In Horticultural Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starch branching enzymes as putative determinants of postharvest quality in horticultural crops

Wang

Beckles

2021

BMC Plant Biol

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Starch branching enzymes (SBEs) are key determinants of the structure and amount of the starch in plant organs, and as such, they have the capacity to influence plant growth, developmental, and fitness processes, and in addition, the industrial end-use of starch. However, little is known about the role of SBEs in determining starch structure-function relations in economically important horticultural crops such as fruit and leafy greens, many of which accumulate starch transiently. Further, a full understanding of the biological function of these types of starches is lacking. Because of this gap in knowledge, this minireview aims to provide an overview of SBEs in horticultural crops, to investigate the potential role of starch in determining postharvest quality. A systematic examination of SBE sequences in 43 diverse horticultural species, identified SBE1, 2 and 3 isoforms in all species examined except apple, olive, and Brassicaceae, which lacked SBE1, but had a duplicated SBE2. Among our findings after a comprehensive and critical review of published data, was that as apple, banana, and tomato fruits ripens, the ratio of the highly digestible amylopectin component of starch increases relative to the more digestion-resistant amylose fraction, with parallel increases in SBE2 transcription, fruit sugar content, and decreases in starch. It is tempting to speculate that during the ripening of these fruit when starch degradation occurs, there are rearrangements made to the structure of starch possibly via branching enzymes to increase starch digestibility to sugars. We propose that based on the known action of SBEs, and these observations, SBEs may affect produce quality, and shelf-life directly through starch accumulation, and indirectly, by altering sugar availability. Further studies where SBE activity is fine-tuned in these crops, can enrich our understanding of the role of starch across species and may improve horticulture postharvest quality.

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Section: Putative Role Of Sbes As Determinants Of Postharvest Quality In Horticultural Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starch branching enzymes as putative determinants of postharvest quality in horticultural crops

Wang

Beckles

2021

BMC Plant Biol

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“…In lettuce ( Min et al, 2021 ) and basil ( Larsen et al, 2022 ), it was found that the stimulating effect of high PPFD on metabolites observed at harvest was maintained during postharvest storage. In the present experiments, levels at harvest were little affected by PPFD, but during postharvest storage at 4°C antioxidants (rosmarinic acid, chicoric acid, total anthocyanin content, and total flavonoid content) in the purple cv.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ascorbic acid (AsA) was measured according to Min et al (2021) . Total AsA (TAsA) is a large antioxidant group in leafy vegetables, also defined as vitamin C ( Min et al, 2021 ). TAsA is the sum of AsA and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Application of increased light intensity during the last phase of the growth as an End-Of-Production (EOP) treatment showed to be sufficient to increase the content of secondary metabolites without having adverse effects on plant morphology ( Gomez and Jimenez, 2020 ; Larsen et al, 2020 , 2022 ; Min et al, 2021 ). In red lettuce, an EOP treatment with 69% blue light has increased anthocyanins but not flavonoids ( Gomez and Jimenez, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lack of Blue Light Regulation of Antioxidants and Chilling Tolerance in Basil

Larsen

Shrestha

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Blue light, measuring from 400 to 500 nm, is generally assumed to increase the content of antioxidants in plants independent of the species. Blue light stimulates the biosynthesis of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and their subclass anthocyanins from the phenylpropanoid pathway. Flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids are strong reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers and may lessen the symptoms of abiotic stresses such as chilling. We tested the hypothesis that a high percentage of blue light induces the accumulation of antioxidants and that this effect depends on the photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD, 400–700 nm). The effect may be more pronounced at a lower PPFD. We investigated the changes in primary and secondary metabolites of basil in response to the percentage of blue light (9, 33, 65, and 100%) applied either as a 5-day End-Of-Production (EOP) treatment or continuous throughout the growth cycle in the green cv. Dolly. We also studied if the response to the percentage of blue light (9 or 90%) was dependent on the total PPFD (100 or 300 μmol m–2 s–1 PPFD) when applied as a 5-day EOP treatment in the green cv. Dolly and the purple cv. Rosie. For both green and purple basil, it was found that the percentage of blue light had little effect on the levels of antioxidants (rosmarinic acid, total ascorbic acid, total flavonoids, and total anthocyanins) at harvest and no interactive effect with PPFD was found. Antioxidants generally decreased during postharvest storage, wherein the decrease was more pronounced at 4 than at 12°C. Chilling injury, as judged from a decrease in Fv/Fm values and from the occurrence of black necrotic areas, was not affected by the percentage of blue light. Particularly, chilling tolerance in the purple cultivar was increased in plants grown under higher PPFD. This may be related to the increased levels of soluble sugar and starch in leaves from high PPFD treated plants.

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“…Application of increased light intensity during the last phase of the growth as an End-Of-Production (EOP) treatment showed to be sufficient to increase the content of secondary metabolites without having adverse effects on plant morphology (Gomez and Jimenez, 2020;Larsen et al, 2020Larsen et al, , 2022Min et al, 2021). In red lettuce, an EOP treatment with 69% blue light has increased anthocyanins but not flavonoids (Gomez and Jimenez, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%