TY - JOUR

T1 - Relevance of nitrogen availability on the phytochemical properties of Chenopodium quinoa cultivated in marine hydroponics as a functional food

AU - Murteira, Mariana

AU - Turcios, Ariel E.

AU - Calado, Ricardo

AU - Lillebø, Ana I.

AU - Papenbrock, Jutta

N1 - Funding Information: This work was carried out under the Erasmus+ Programme for Training Mobility (2017-1-PT01-KA103-035263) funded by European Union and acknowledges the Integrated Programme of SR&TD “SmartBioR – Smart Valorization of Endogenous Marine Biological Resources Under a Changing Climate” (Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018), co-funded by Centro 2020 program , Portugal 2020 , European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund , as well as FCT/MEC for the financial support to CESAM ( UIDB/50017/2020+UIDP/50017/2020 ) through national funds and co-funding by FEDER , within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020.

PY - 2022/1/3

Y1 - 2022/1/3

N2 - Chenopodium quinoa is a salt tolerant plant species of high nutritional value with potential to act as an extractive species under marine integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). This study aimed to assess the growth performance and antioxidant content and activity of C. quinoa cultivated in saline hydroponics under contrasting nitrogen concentrations mimicking different aquaculture effluents described in literature. Seedlings were cultivated under greenhouse conditions in a modified Hoagland solution with a salinity of 20 g l−1 artificial sea salt and four nitrogen concentrations: 20 mg l−1 (N20); 40 mg l−1 (N40); 100 mg l−1 (N100) and 200 mg l−1 (N200). After 4 weeks, leaf chlorophyll content and biomass gain were determined. Total flavonoids, total phenols and contents of elements were analyzed in C. quinoa leaves and shoot tips. Antioxidant capacity was quantified using oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay (ORAC). In treatments N100 and N200, C. quinoa presented higher biomass gain and lower antioxidant content and activity in its leaves and shoot tips. In contrast, in treatment N20 higher antioxidant content and activity were recorded, revealing the existence of stress inducing conditions during the experimental period. Shoot tips of these plants contained higher nitrogen and mineral contents than leaves. This approach may set the stage to develop a sustainable methodology to modulate the secondary metabolism of C. quinoa and enhance its value as functional food when cultured using marine aquaponics in IMTA systems.

AB - Chenopodium quinoa is a salt tolerant plant species of high nutritional value with potential to act as an extractive species under marine integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). This study aimed to assess the growth performance and antioxidant content and activity of C. quinoa cultivated in saline hydroponics under contrasting nitrogen concentrations mimicking different aquaculture effluents described in literature. Seedlings were cultivated under greenhouse conditions in a modified Hoagland solution with a salinity of 20 g l−1 artificial sea salt and four nitrogen concentrations: 20 mg l−1 (N20); 40 mg l−1 (N40); 100 mg l−1 (N100) and 200 mg l−1 (N200). After 4 weeks, leaf chlorophyll content and biomass gain were determined. Total flavonoids, total phenols and contents of elements were analyzed in C. quinoa leaves and shoot tips. Antioxidant capacity was quantified using oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay (ORAC). In treatments N100 and N200, C. quinoa presented higher biomass gain and lower antioxidant content and activity in its leaves and shoot tips. In contrast, in treatment N20 higher antioxidant content and activity were recorded, revealing the existence of stress inducing conditions during the experimental period. Shoot tips of these plants contained higher nitrogen and mineral contents than leaves. This approach may set the stage to develop a sustainable methodology to modulate the secondary metabolism of C. quinoa and enhance its value as functional food when cultured using marine aquaponics in IMTA systems.

KW - Antioxidants

KW - Aquaponics

KW - Circular economy

KW - Extractive species

KW - Halophytes

KW - Secondary metabolites

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115267568&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scienta.2021.110524

DO - 10.1016/j.scienta.2021.110524

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85115267568

VL - 291

JO - Scientia horticulturae

JF - Scientia horticulturae

SN - 0304-4238

M1 - 110524

ER -