TY - JOUR
T1 - Grain endogenous selenium and moderate salt stress work as synergic elicitors in the enrichment of bioactive compounds in maize sprouts
AU - Fontanella, Maria Chiara
AU - Beone, Gian Maria
AU - Benincasa, Paolo
AU - D’Amato, Roberto
AU - Falcinelli, Beatrice
AU - Troni, Elisabetta
AU - Frusciante, Sarah
AU - Guiducci, Marcello
AU - Businelli, Daniela
AU - Diretto, Gianfranco
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Salt stress and selenium are known to elicitate the production of plant secondary metabolites with antioxidant properties. On this basis, maize grains obtained from mother plants fertilized or not fertilized with selenium were sprouted at different levels of salinity (0, 25, and 50 mM NaCl) to evaluate the effects on the sprout yield, inorganic and organic Se species, minerals, and secondary metabolites, as revealed by a metabolomics analysis. Grain endogenous selenium (135 mg kg-1 vs. 0.19 mg kg-1 of the non-enriched grain) and salinity affected the sprout yield and composition, with salinity having the greatest effect on secondary metabolites. Most of the Se in sprouts was in an inorganic form, despite Se-enriched grains only containing organic Se. Some synergic effect was observed between Se and salinity. The best combination was obtained with Se-enriched grains sprouted at 25 mM NaCl, since this provided a good yield (not lower than in the untreated control), while sprout shoots were enriched in selenocystine and pro-nutritional semipolar compounds with antioxidant properties. Therefore, using grains from Se-fertilized crops and sprouting them under mild salt stress might represent a promising technique for improving the nutritional value of sprouts.
AB - Salt stress and selenium are known to elicitate the production of plant secondary metabolites with antioxidant properties. On this basis, maize grains obtained from mother plants fertilized or not fertilized with selenium were sprouted at different levels of salinity (0, 25, and 50 mM NaCl) to evaluate the effects on the sprout yield, inorganic and organic Se species, minerals, and secondary metabolites, as revealed by a metabolomics analysis. Grain endogenous selenium (135 mg kg-1 vs. 0.19 mg kg-1 of the non-enriched grain) and salinity affected the sprout yield and composition, with salinity having the greatest effect on secondary metabolites. Most of the Se in sprouts was in an inorganic form, despite Se-enriched grains only containing organic Se. Some synergic effect was observed between Se and salinity. The best combination was obtained with Se-enriched grains sprouted at 25 mM NaCl, since this provided a good yield (not lower than in the untreated control), while sprout shoots were enriched in selenocystine and pro-nutritional semipolar compounds with antioxidant properties. Therefore, using grains from Se-fertilized crops and sprouting them under mild salt stress might represent a promising technique for improving the nutritional value of sprouts.
KW - Abiotic stress
KW - Antioxidant
KW - Elicitation
KW - Metabolomics
KW - Phytochemical
KW - Abiotic stress
KW - Antioxidant
KW - Elicitation
KW - Metabolomics
KW - Phytochemical
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/165246
U2 - 10.3390/agronomy10050735
DO - 10.3390/agronomy10050735
M3 - Article
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Agronomy
JF - Agronomy
SN - 2073-4395
ER -