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Lookup NU author(s): Othman Qadir, Dr Mario Siervo, Emeritus Professor Chris SealORCiD, Dr Kirsten BrandtORCiD
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by American Chemical Society, 2017.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
This study aimed to use different nitrogen fertilizer regimes to produce Butterhead lettuce with such large differences in nitrate content that they could be used as treatment and placebo to study the effect of inorganic nitrate on human health. Plants were grown under controlled conditions at 27/23°C day/night with a relatively low Photosyntetically Active Radiation (PAR) of 150μmol m-2 s-1 for 14 hours day-1 and nitrogen supplies ranging from 26 to 154ppm N as ammonium nitrate in the fertigation solution. This resulted in contrasting high (~1078 mg nitrate 100g-1 FW) or low (~6 mg 100g-1) nitrate contents in the leaves. Contents of carotenoids and chlorophylls in fresh weight did not differ significantly between highest and lowest N-supply levels. However, increased nitrogen supply reduced contents of phenolic compounds from 154 to 22mg 100g-1 FW, dry matter content from 8.9 to 4.6% and fresh weight per plant from 108.52 to 47.57 g/plant FW (all P<0.001). So while fertilizer treatments can provide lettuce with substantially different nitrate contents, maintaining similar pigment contents (color), they also strongly influence the contents of phenolic acids and flavones.
Author(s): Qadir O, Siervo M, Seal CJ, Brandt K
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Year: 2017
Volume: 65
Issue: 46
Pages: 10003-10010
Print publication date: 22/11/2017
Online publication date: 23/10/2017
Acceptance date: 07/08/2017
Date deposited: 24/10/2017
ISSN (print): 0021-8561
ISSN (electronic): 1520-5118
Publisher: American Chemical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.7b03675
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b03675
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