Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Volume LIX
Written by Elena DELIAN, Adrian CHIRA, Liliana BĂDULESCU, Lenuţa CHIRA
In recent years people have a substantial interest for the consumption of fruits and vegetables characterized by a high content of bioactive substances. It is known that these are beneficial not only because they provides the necessary nutrients for human body, but, also have important effects on health. From this point of view, microgreens represent a new class of vegetables that can be considered as “functional foods”. Although they have a short life cycle, one of the possibilities of manipulation of the bioactive compounds biosynthesis is to know that species physiology during germination, during the growth, as well as during postharvest. This review presents a general overview on some technological measures that may influence microgreens physiology, based on few recent research works carried out on these topics. There are reviewed data on: 1. beneficial effects of pre-sowing treatments; 2. the lights effects on microgreens physiology (in terms of quantity, but mostly quality of light ) concerning the growth process, as well as accumulation of bioactive compounds; 3. measures to influence microgreens post-harvest physiology, to avoid the incidence of some microorganisms, to extend shelf life and to maintain their nutritional quality. Despite microgreens short life cycle, technological measures applied based on species physiology understanding are undoubtedly intended to result in increased the productivity, to obtain healthy products, with lower prices.
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bioactive compounds
