Foodomics for agroecology: Differentiation of volatile profile in mint (Mentha x gracilis Sole) from permaculture, organic and conventional agricultural systems using HS-SPME/GC-MS

In the present study, foodomics approach was employed to investigate changes in the metabolism from the volatile terpenoids profile of mint (Mentha x gracillis Sole) from conventional, organic and permaculture (a type of agroecological agriculture system) farms using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) associated to gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and chemometric tools. The discrimination among the three types of mint was successfully achieved and demonstrated evidence of ecological interaction impact in the food metabolism. The agroecological mint presented as differential compounds: alpha-terpineol, bornyl formate, cis-carvyl propionate, cis-carveol, camphor, dihydrocarvyl acetate, dihydrocarveol, karahanaenone, nonanal, 3-octyl acetate, and trans-3-hexenyl-2 methylbutyrate. While organic and conventional mint presented as differential compounds: alpha-cedrene, beta -pinene, gamma-muurolene, 8-cadinene, germacrene, terpinolene, and elemol. The majority of differential metabolites from agroecological mint are oxygenated monoterpenes, which have more intense flavor and biological activities than hydrocarbons monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes found in organic and conventional mint. Furthermore, the discrimination between organic and conventional mint was effectively performed, which demonstrated different terpenoid profiles though without implying benefits for one or another agriculture system.

Automated summary

In this study, the foodomics approach was used to investigate the changes in metabolism of mint from different farming systems. The results showed that the agroecological mint had a higher content of oxygenated monoterpenes, which have stronger flavor and biological activities compared to hydrocarbons monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes found in organic and conventional mint. The study also successfully differentiated between organic and conventional mint based on their terpenoid profiles.