Balasooriya, H.N.,
Dassanayake, K.B.,
Seneweera, S. and
Ajlouni, S.
2019
Impact of elevated
carbon dioxide and
temperature on
strawberry
polyphenols.
Journal of the Science
of Food and Agriculture 99:
4659-4669.
NOTE:
Strawberries are in
( Fragaria ananassa )
high demand globally,
gaining favor in recent years
due its nutritional properties,
including minerals, vitamin C,
folates, antioxidants and
polyphenols.
Key nutritional substances
of this fruit in response to
future climate change
was the subject
of this recent paper.
SUMMARY:
The alleged "evils"
of rising temperature
and higher levels
of atmospheric CO2,
will actually stimulate
the growth and
nutritional properties
of strawberries,
which is good news
for human health.
Balassoriya et al. (2019)
results are summarized
in the charts below.
When compared to plants
growing under ambient
conditions, "elevated CO2
and higher temperature
caused significant increases
in total polyphenol, flavonoid,
anthocyanin and antioxidants
in both strawberry cultivars."
Balasooriya et al. note that,
"as polyphenols, flavonoids,
anthocyanins, and antioxidants
are considered to be important
fruit bioactive compounds,
increasing the content
of such fruit nutrients
with elevated CO2,
higher temperature
and their interactions,
would improve
strawberries'
functional
properties."
"Consequently,
strawberries
grown under higher
temperatures ( 30°C )
and elevated CO2
( 650 and 950 ppm )
could support
better human health."
DETAILS:
Working in controlled
-environment chambers
as the Parkville Campus
of the University of
Melbourne, Australia,
the four scientists
who conducted this study
grew two strawberry cultivars
( Albion and San Andreas )
under two temperatures
( 25°C or 30°C )
and three CO2 concentrations
( 400, 650 or 950 ppm ).
At harvest,
they analyzed
nutritional properties
of the fresh
strawberries
in response to
increasing temperature
and / or atmospheric CO2.
Figure 1, below:
Total polyphenolic content
( TPC, Panel a ),
total flavonoid contents
( TFC, Panel b ),
total monomeric
anthocyanin contents
( TMAC, Panel c )
and total antioxidant
contents
( TAC, Panel d )
of two different
strawberry cultivars
( 'Albion' and 'San Andreas' )
at different combinations
of temperature and CO2.
Error bars indicate
the standard deviation
of data ( n = 12 ).
Different letters
are significantly
( P ≥ 0.05 ) different.
