High production of flavonols and anthocyanins in Eruca sativa (Mill) Thell plants at high artificial LED light intensities

Eruca sativa (arugula) is a food crop containing valuable bioactive flavonoids. Plants growing with monochrome light-emitting diodes (LED) and binary light sources, including red/blue (RB), were tested using HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS. Most artificial lighting options with a high intensity of 1000 mu mol m - 2s- 1(except for warm white light) resulted in an almost 20-fold increase in flavonol productivity. Monochromatic sources had no advantage over white light in terms of increasing anthocyanin productivity. However, RB light increased the anthocyanin content and productivity of E. sativa plants by more than ten times compared to white light. Plant growth on monochromatic and binary sources at high intensities was comparable to that on white light. Mea-surement of the content of chlorophyll and its degradation product, phyllobilins, showed that plants are not under stressful conditions. Overall, our data show that a significant increase in flavonoid content can be achieved without a loss of arugula plant biomass.

Automated summary

In this study, it was found that red/blue light resulted in a 20-fold increase in flavonol productivity in arugula plants compared to white light. However, it had no effect on anthocyanin productivity. On the other hand, red/blue light increased the anthocyanin content and productivity of arugula plants more than ten times compared to white light. Overall, this research demonstrates that flavonoid content can be significantly increased without a loss in biomass.