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Variation in glucosinolates in pak choi cultivars and various organs at different stages of vegetative growth during the harvest period

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Abstract

Glucosinolates (GSs) play an important role in plant defense systems and human nutrition. We investigated the content and composition of GSs in the shoots and roots of seven cultivars of pak choi. We found that ‘Si Yue Man’ had the highest total and aliphatic GS contents in the shoots and the highest benzenic GS content in the roots, ‘Shanghai Qing’ contained the highest amounts of benzenic and total GS contents in the roots, while ‘Nanjing Zhong Gan Bai’ had the lowest benzenic, indole, and total GS contents in both the shoots and roots. Therefore, the ‘Si Yue Man’ cultivar appears to be a good candidate for future breeding. Variation between the shoots and roots was also examined, and a significant correlation among the total, aliphatic, and some individual GSs was found, which is of value in agricultural breeding. GS concentrations of the leaf, petiole, and root increased dramatically during the period of rapid growth of the dry matter of the plant 10 to 20 d after transplantation, reaching peak values on Day 20 and decreasing on Day 25. We conclude that the pak choi should be harvested and consumed from 20 to 25 d after transplantation to take advantages of the high GS content in the plant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Biao Zhu & Zhu-jun Zhu

  2. School of Agricultural and Food Science, Zhejiang Agricultural & Forestry University, Hangzhou, 311300, China

    Jing Yang & Zhu-jun Zhu

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  1. Biao Zhu
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  2. Jing Yang
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  3. Zhu-jun Zhu
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Correspondence to Zhu-jun Zhu.

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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30871718 and 31201620), the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. R3080360), and the Fund for Zhejiang Higher School Innovative Research Team (No. T200916), China

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Zhu, B., Yang, J. & Zhu, Zj. Variation in glucosinolates in pak choi cultivars and various organs at different stages of vegetative growth during the harvest period. J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. B 14, 309–317 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200213

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