Improvement of the phytochemical content on artichoke heads applying the elicitor Methyl Salicilate

Globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L. var. scolymus) is a traditionally consumed vegetable in the Mediterranean area being Italy, Spain and Egypt the main producers. The edible fraction includes the inner bracts and receptacle of the immature flowers which are very appreciated by consumers for its organoleptic quality and also recognized as herbal medicine with important health benefits due to high levels of total phenolics in comparison to other vegetables and the antioxidant activity related to these abundant compounds. Concretely in Spain artichoke production is almost exclusively based on the clonal propagating cultivar 'Blanca de Tudela', which has excellent overall quality. Moreover, its well-known that biotic elicitors, such as Methyl Salicilate (MeSa) have biological origin and are commonly applied to improve the phytochemical composition of plants to trigger plant defense responses, contributing to plant resistance against pathogen attacks. This work shows the effect of MeSa treatment as elicitor at the concentration of 0.5 mM of artichoke plants on quality and phenolic content. Treatments were applied every 21 days during the growing phase in artichoke 'Blanca de Tudela' cultivar and the quality and bioactive compounds of the artichokes was valued for two harvest dates, November and April and during 0, 7, 14 and 28 days of storage at 2? C. The results have shown that the application of MeSa increases functional quality due to it increases the content of total phenols, hydroxycinnamic acids and total antioxidant activity in both harvesting and these increases were maintaining during storage without affect quality attributes. The result obtained suggests that MeSa foliar application could be a simple and accessible practice to improve phytochemical content on artichoke heads without affect overall quality of these important vegetable. SourcesEffect of preharvest application of methyl salicylate as an elicitor at harvest and during postharvest storage of `Blanca de Tudela? artichokes1Martinez-Espl?, A., 2Serrano, M., 1Medina-Santamarina, J., 1Gim?nez, M.J., 1Castillo, S., 1Zapata, P.J.1Ctra de Beniel km 3,2, Ctra de Beniel km 3,2, 03312 Alicante Orihuela, Spain. alejandra.martineze@umh.es; jormesan@gmail.com; maria.gimenezt@umh.es; scastillo@umh.es; pedrojzapata@umh.es 2Ctra de Beniel km 3,2, Ctra de Beniel km 3,2, 03312 Alicante Orihuela, Spain. m.serrano@umh.esArtichoke 2019, X International Symposium, Orihuela, SpainPicture by alcachofa.es, C?mo pelar alcachofas (how to peel artichokes) by David Lecanda? ?