<i>Trichoderma hamatum</i> Increases Productivity, Glucosinolate Content and Antioxidant Potential of Different Leafy <i>Brassica</i> Vegetables
2021
Pablo Velasco | Víctor Manuel Rodríguez | Pilar Soengas | Jorge Poveda
<i>Brassica</i> crops include important vegetables known as “superfoods” due to the content of phytochemicals of great interest to human health, such as glucosinolates (GSLs) and antioxidant compounds. On the other hand, <i>Trichoderma</i> is a genus of filamentous fungi that includes several species described as biostimulants and/or biological control agents in agriculture. In a previous work, an endophytic strain of <i>Trichoderma hamatum</i> was isolated from kale roots (<i>Brassica oleracea</i> var. <i>acephala</i>), describing its ability to induce systemic resistance in its host plant. In the present work, some of the main leafy <i>Brassica</i> crops (kale, cabbage, leaf rape and turnip greens) have been root-inoculated with <i>T. hamatum</i>, having the aim to verify the possible capacity of the fungus as a biostimulant in productivity as well as the foliar content of GSLs and its antioxidant potential, in order to improve these “superfoods”. The results reported, for the first time, an increase in the productivity of kale (55%), cabbage (36%) and turnip greens (46%) by <i>T. hamatum</i> root inoculation. Furthermore, fungal inoculation reported a significant increase in the content of total GSLs in cabbage and turnip greens, mainly of the GSLs sinigrin and gluconapin, respectively, along with an increase in their antioxidant capacity. Therefore, <i>T. hamatum</i> could be a good agricultural biostimulant in leafy <i>Brassica</i> crops, increasing the content of GSLs and antioxidant potential of great food and health interest.
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