Germination under Moderate Salinity Increases Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Rapeseed (Brassica napus var oleifera Del.) Sprouts

Groupe de Recherche en Physiologie Végétale (GRPV), Earth and Life Institute-Agronomy (ELI-A), Université catholique de Louvain, 5 Place Croix du Sud, Bte 7.07.13, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

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Molecules 2017, 22(8), 1377; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22081377

Received: 12 July 2017 / Revised: 7 August 2017 / Accepted: 16 August 2017 / Published: 19 August 2017

(This article belongs to the Collection Phytochemicals: Biosynthesis, Metabolism and Biological Activities)

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Abstract

The use of sprouts in the human diet is becoming more and more widespread because they are tasty and high in bioactive compounds and antioxidants, with related health benefits. In this work, we sprouted rapeseed under increasing salinity to investigate the effect on free and bound total phenolics (TP), non-flavonoids (NF), tannins (TAN), phenolic acids (PAs), and antioxidant activity. Seeds were incubated at 0, 25, 50, 100, 200 mM NaCl until early or late sprout stage, i.e., before or after cotyledon expansion, respectively. Sprouting and increasing salinity slightly decreased the bound fractions of TP, NF, TAN, PAs, while it increased markedly the free ones and their antioxidant activity. Further increases were observed in late sprouts. Moderate salinity (25–50 mM NaCl) caused the highest relative increase in phenolic concentration while it slightly affected sprout growth. On the contrary, at higher NaCl concentrations, sprouts grew slowly (100 mM NaCl) or even died before reaching the late sprout stage (200 mM). Overall, moderate salinity was the best compromise to increase phenolic content of rapeseed sprouts. The technique may be evaluated for transfer to other species as a cheap and feasible way to increase the nutritional value of sprouts. View Full-Text

Keywords: phenolics; free; bound; non-flavonoids; tannins; DPPH

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MDPI and ACS Style

Falcinelli, B.; Sileoni, V.; Marconi, O.; Perretti, G.; Quinet, M.; Lutts, S.; Benincasa, P. Germination under Moderate Salinity Increases Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Rapeseed (Brassica napus var oleifera Del.) Sprouts. Molecules 2017, 22, 1377. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22081377

AMA Style

Falcinelli B, Sileoni V, Marconi O, Perretti G, Quinet M, Lutts S, Benincasa P. Germination under Moderate Salinity Increases Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Rapeseed (Brassica napus var oleifera Del.) Sprouts. Molecules. 2017; 22(8):1377. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22081377

Chicago/Turabian Style

Falcinelli, Beatrice, Valeria Sileoni, Ombretta Marconi, Giuseppe Perretti, Muriel Quinet, Stanley Lutts, and Paolo Benincasa. 2017. "Germination under Moderate Salinity Increases Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Rapeseed (Brassica napus var oleifera Del.) Sprouts" Molecules 22, no. 8: 1377. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22081377

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Germination under Moderate Salinity Increases Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Rapeseed (Brassica napus var oleifera Del.) Sprouts

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