Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tocopherol (vitamin E) is an antioxidant essential in human nutrition. Several approaches have aimed to enhance tocopherol content in crops by the genetic modification of plants, a practice that generates some social concern. As tocopherol accumulates with leaf age in some wild plants and the antioxidant mechanisms respond with flexibility to stress conditions, it is hypothesised that tocopherol content can be increased in edible plants by the manipulation of harvesting time and growth conditions, in particular irradiance. RESULTS: Ontogenic changes in tocopherol concentration have been studied in photosynthetic tissues of edible leaves (lettuce, spinach, corn salad and dandelion) and green fruits (cucumber and pepper). In all species, tocopherol content increased with tissue age. Spinach showed the fastest rate of tocopherol accumulation, and growth at higher irradiance had a synergistic effect on the rate of accumulation. The same irradiance dependence of this accumulation was observed in fruits, but a final decrease with senescence occurred in cucumber. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the content of tocopherol in vegetables can be notably enhanced (or reduced) by simply selecting the appropriate harvesting time and/or by manipulating the environmental conditions during the growth period.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Tocopherol content increased with tissue age in all studied species.
- Taxon
- lettuce
Lactuca sativae0 - Organ / stage
- tissue agee1
- Outcome
- tocopherol contente1
- Direction
- increasede1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“edible leaves (lettuce, spinach, corn salad and dandelion) and green fruits (cucumber and pepper)”
e1“In all species, tocopherol content increased with tissue age”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach had the fastest tocopherol accumulation rate.
- Taxon
- Spinach
Spinacia oleraceae0 - Outcome
- rate of tocopherol accumulatione0
- Direction
- fasteste0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Spinach showed the fastest rate of tocopherol accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
Higher irradiance synergistically affected tocopherol accumulation in spinach.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Treatment
- higher irradiancee0
- Outcome
- rate of accumulatione0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Spinach showed the fastest rate of tocopherol accumulation, and growth at higher irradiance had a synergistic effect on the rate of accumulation”
Claim · model-written summary
Fruit tocopherol accumulation showed the same irradiance dependence.
Not reportedDirection
Verbatim
e0“The same irradiance dependence of this accumulation was observed in fruits”
Claim · model-written summary
Cucumber fruit tocopherol declined at senescence.
- Taxon
- cucumber
Cucumis sativuse0 - Organ / stage
- senescencee0
- Outcome
- final decreasee0
- Direction
- decreasee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a final decrease with senescence occurred in cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Harvest timing and growth conditions can enhance or reduce vegetable tocopherol content.
Verbatim
e0“the content of tocopherol in vegetables can be notably enhanced (or reduced) by simply selecting the appropriate harvesting time and/or by manipulating the environmental conditions during the growth period”
The same questions in other papers
light · molecular: metabolites · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
15 papers in the same direction as this paper · 13 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- negative
25 papers more in this group
See all 29 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.