Biotic Elicitors Effectively Increase the Glucosinolates Content in Brassicaceae Sprouts

Several biotic elicitors have been used in Brassicaceae species to enhance their phytochemical quality. However, there is no comparison between elicitors under controlled growth conditions. In order to draw general conclusions about the use of elicitors to enrich ready-to-eat sprouts in health-promoting glucosinolates, the aim of this study was to unveil the effect of the phytohormones methyl jasmonate (25 mu M), jasmonic acid (150 mu M), and salicylic acid (100 mu M), the oligosaccharides glucose (277 mM) and sucrose (146 mM), and the amino acid DL-methionine (5 mM) as elicitors over 8-day sprouting Brassica oleraceae (broccoli), Brassica napus (rutabaga cabbage), Brassica rapa (turnip), and Raphanus sativus (China rose radish and red radish), representative species high in glucosinolates previously studied. Results indicated that the phytohormones methyl jasmonate and jasmonic acid and the sugars acted as effective elicitors, increasing the total glucosinolate contents of the sprouts, particularly, glucoraphanin (from 183 to 294 mg.100 g(-1) in MeJA-treated broccoli sprouts), glucoraphenin (from 33 to 124 mg.100 g(-1) and from 167 to 227 mg.100 g(-1) in MeJA-treated China rose radish and red radish, respectively), and glucobrassicin (from 23.4 to 91.0 mg.100 g(-1) and from 29.6 to 186 mg.100 g(-1) in MeJA-treated turnip and rutabaga sprouts, respectively).