Effects of different nitrogen forms on growth, phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity in amaranth species
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Date
2017
Authors
Munene, Rozy
Changamu, E. O.
Korir, Nicholas
Gweyi-Onyango, Joseph
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Society for Tropical Plant Research
Abstract
Higher plants, accumulate large number of polyphenolic compounds which are believed
to act as defence compounds against different environmental constraints. Nitrogen (N) is a critical
element for plant growth, absorbed as (NH4
+
) and (NO3
-
), which affects plant growth and to some
extent contributes to secondary metabolites accumulation. Greenhouse experiment was carried out
to determine the effect of N forms on growth and phytochemical accumulation in Amaranthus
species. Two amaranth varieties; AB6 and AB7 constituted the main plot while three N forms;
ammonium, nitrate, ammonium nitrate and control (no N form) represented the subplot.
Destructive sampling was done and plant height was recorded. Folin-Ciocalteu’s and aluminium
trichloride methods were used to determine total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid
content (TFC) respectively. DPPH (diphenylpicrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity assay was
used to obtain total antioxidant activity. Nitrogen forms significantly (p≤0.05) affected plant
height between two amaranth varieties. Under nitrate treatment, AB7 exhibited greater height
(40.2 cm) than AB6 (35.2 cm). Furthermore, N effect was more evident in AB6 variety, where by
compared to the control, NO3
-
as exclusive N source enhanced shoot length by 64% in AB6 and
51% in AB7 which was twice that of the NH4
+
-N treated plants. Sole NH4
+
and no N form
enhanced accumulation of both TFC and TPC, unlike nitrate and ammonium-nitrate mixture.
Compared to NH4
+
treatment, NO3
-
reduced TFC by 17.4% in AB6- variety and 14.7% in AB7
variety and TPC accumulation by 23% AB6 and 20% AB7 varieties respectively.
Correspondingly, NH4
+
- N form resulted to superior antioxidant DPPH scavenging activity
indicated by high scavenging activity and lower IC50 value (concentration which scavenged 50%
of the DPPH radicals). Plant height displayed a significant negative correlation with TFC and TPC
accumulation of r= 0.75 and r= 0.81 respectively. The results indicated that ammonium-induced
stress enhanced total flavonoids and phenolics accumulation; a salient phytochemical plasticity
observed during plant growth and survival trade-off in a vegetable amaranth.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Nitrogen forms, Ammonium, Nitrate, Phenolics, Flavonoids, Amaranth
Citation
Munene R, Changamu E, Korir N & Gweyi-Onyango J (2017) Effects of different nitrogen forms on growth, phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity in amaranth species. Tropical Plant Research 4(1): 81– 89]