Abstract
Broccoli microgreens represent a novel type of vegetable characterized by high levels of bioactive compounds. Here, we investigated the effects of light-emitting diode (LED) light quality on the development and nutritional uptake of broccoli microgreens. The plants were exposed to five distinct light treatments: white, single red, and red: blue at 5:1, 5:3, and 5:5 ratios. The soluble sugars, nutrients, and secondary metabolites of broccoli sprout extracts were examined using high-performance liquid chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry under various light-quality conditions. In addition, the expression levels of genes encoding important enzymes in the glucosinolates (GLs) biosynthesis pathway were examined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Overall, the findings demonstrated that mixed red-blue light, especially the 5:1 red: blue ratio, was beneficial for broccoli microgreens in terms of their hypocotyl length, fresh weight, edible rate, soluble proteins, vitamin C, total phenolics, total flavonoids, and GLs. Our findings provide a foundation and reference point for selecting the most appropriate LED light ratio in microgreens production.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 32360646), and the Jiangxi Natural Science Foundation Project (Grant Numbers 20232BAB205010, 20212AEI91010, 20192BAB204014).
Funding
Funding was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 32360646), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (Grant Numbers 20232BAB205010, 20192BAB204014), and Jiangxi Natural Science Foundation Project (Grant Number 20212AEI91010).
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LLP: Conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, software, validation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization. ZGW: Investigation, formal analysis, validation, writing—review and editing. LWJ: Investigation, project administration, resources. WD: Data curation, supervision, funding acquisition, project administration, resources, writing—review and editing. SQF: Data curation, supervision, funding acquisition, project administration, resources. HYB: Conceptualization, methodology, supervision, funding acquisition, project administration, resources, writing—review and editing, visualization.
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Luo, L., Zhang, G., Liang, W. et al. Effects of LED Light Quality on Broccoli Microgreens Plant Growth and Nutrient Accumulation. J Plant Growth Regul (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-024-11326-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-024-11326-7