PRODUCTION OF ASCORBIC-ACID ENRICHED VEGETABLES - ABSORPTION OF AN L-ASCORBIC-ACID SOLUTION AND THE EFFECT OF STORAGE-TEMPERATURE ON THE FOLIAR EXOGENOUS ASCORBIC-ACID CONTENT
K. Inoue et al., PRODUCTION OF ASCORBIC-ACID ENRICHED VEGETABLES - ABSORPTION OF AN L-ASCORBIC-ACID SOLUTION AND THE EFFECT OF STORAGE-TEMPERATURE ON THE FOLIAR EXOGENOUS ASCORBIC-ACID CONTENT, Journal of horticultural science & biotechnology, 73(5), 1998, pp. 681-686
An economic assessment was made of whether leaf vegetables can absorb
almost all of a given amount of an L-ascorbic acid solution applied by
soaking the roots for 12 h. The effects of storage temperature on the
foliar exogenous ascorbic acid content were also observed. It was fou
nd that the given amounts of L-ascorbic acid solution are entirely abs
orbed by lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L., cv. Redfire) and are over
90% absorbed by spinach (Spinacia oleracea L., cv. Read) and bunching
onion plants (Allium fistulosum L., cv. Hakata Kuronegi). Due to the s
oaking treatment, the sum of the L-ascorbic acid (AA) and dehydro-asco
rbic acid (DHA) contents (mg per 100 g fresh weight) in the leaves of
plants which showed no signs of wilting increased from 38.9 to 201-221
in lettuce, from 76.5 to 196-225 in spinach and from 46.7 to 134-144
in bunching onion. The foliar AA content in all the plants stayed at a
pproximately the same value during a storage period of 7 d at 4 degree
s C, but decreased significantly at 25 degrees C. The foliar DHA conte
nt in all of the plants stayed at approximately the same value during
storage at both 4 and 25 degrees C. These results suggest that the asc
orbic acid introduced into leaf vegetables can be used effectively by
consumers when the vegetables are stored at low temperature.