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Kale is known for its exceptional nourishing and functional benefits to human body. However, it is an understudied species from genomic as well as agronomic aspects. It is important to characterize niche kale germplasms around the world to systematically conserve and utilize its genetic variability, especially for commercial traits in the interest of growers, consumers and industry. With this view, genomic and phenotypic characterizations of 62 Kashmiri kale accessions including popular landraces were done to estimate and partition genetic diversity, understand trait relationships, develop population structure and divulge marker-trait associations of economic significance. Sixty-six cross species microsatellite (SSR) markers within Brassica genus amplified 269 alleles in the germplasm. Their polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.00078 to 0.953 with an average of 0.407. The population structure analysis and neighbour joining tree clustering categorized the germplasm into three sub-populations. AMOVA revealed more within-population variance (67.73 %) than among-populations (32.27 %) variance. The principal component analysis (PCA) involving 24 agronomical traits revealed seven PCs (PC1 to PC7) having Eigen values more than 1, which explained a cumulative variation of 69.21 %. Association mapping with respect to these 24 agronomical traits using mixed linear model and general linear model revealed six overlapping significant marker-trait relationships with five being significant at probability value of 0.001/0.0001. The highly significant associations of two SSRs with economically important traits (siliqua length and seed weight) significantly correlated/related with leaf yield and seed yield were revealed for their possible utilization in marker assisted breeding for higher leaf and seed yields.

The growing interest in healthy diets has driven the demand for food ingredients with enhanced health benefits. In this study, we aimed to explore a method to enhance the bioactivity of kale using a home vertical farming appliance. Specifically, we investigated the effects of treating kale with a green tea water extract (GTE; 0.1–0.5 g/L in nutrient solution) for two weeks before harvest during five weeks of kale cultivation. GTE treatment did not negatively affect the key quality attributes, such as yield, semblance, or sensory properties. However, it led to the accumulation of bioactive compounds, epicatechin (EC) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which are typically absent in kale. In the control group, no catechins were detected, whereas in the GTE-treated group, the concentration of EC and EGCG were as high as 252.11 and 173.26 μg/g, respectively. These findings indicate the successful incorporation of catechins, known for their unique health-promoting properties, into kale. Additionally, GTE treatment enhanced the biosynthesis of glucosinolates, which are key secondary metabolites of kale. The total glucosinolate content increased from 9.56 μmol/g in the control group to 16.81 μmol/g in the GTE-treated group (treated with 0.5 g/L GTE). These findings showed that GTE treatment not only enriched kale with catechins, the primary bioactive compounds in green tea but also increased the levels of glucosinolates. This study, conducted using a home vertical farming appliance, suggests that bioactivity-enhanced kale can be grown domestically, providing consumers with a nutrient-fortified food source.

Brassica vegetables (Brassicaceae) produce a unique class of compounds known as glucosinolates. The breakdown products of glucosinolates, including isothiocyanates, are recognized as the primary sources of bioactivity and characteristic taste, flavor and aroma of these vegetables. An emerging market trend is to harvest leafy greens at the immature stage known as “baby greens”, however, much is still unknown about the phytochemistry at this earlier stage of development. Glucosinolates and their breakdown products were examined in three members of the Brassicaceae family: Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa ‘Arugula’, Brassica juncea ‘Garnet Giant’ (mustard greens) and Brassica oleracea var. acephala ‘Red Kale’. A total of 16 glucosinolates were tentatively identified using UHPLC-QTOF/MS and seven volatile breakdown products were identified using GC/MS. Nine putative glucosinolates and one isothiocyanate are reported for the first time in these plant species and varieties. Glucobarbarin, glucocheirolin, glucoiberin, gluconapin and neoglucobrassicin were newly identified in Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa. Glucoalyssin, glucobarbarin, glucobrassicanapin and glucotropaeolin were newly identified in B. oleracea var. acephala, and butane isothiocyanate was newly identified in B. oleracea. Future work will focus on correlating chemistry data with sensory analyses to determine the impact of these specific glucosinolates and breakdown products on taste, flavor and aroma.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic element that can accumulate in edible plant tissues and negatively impact human health. Traditional Cd quantification methods are time-consuming, expensive, and generate a lot of toxic waste, slowing development of methods to reduce uptake. The objective of this study was to determine whether hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and machine learning (ML) can be used to predict Cd concentrations in plants using kale (Brassica oleracea) and basil (Ocimum basilicum) as model crops. The experiments were conducted in an automated phenotyping facility where all environmental conditions except soil Cd concentration were kept constant. Cd concentrations were determined at harvest using traditional methods and used to train the ML models with data collected from the imaging sensor. Visible/near infrared (VNIR) images were also collected at harvest and processed to calculate reflectance at 473 bands between 400 to 998 nm. All reflectance spectra were subject to the feature selection algorithm ReliefF and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to generate data and provide input to evaluate three ML classification models: artificial neural network (ANN), ensemble learning (EL), and support vector machine (SVM). Plants were categorized according to Cd concentrations higher or lower than the safety threshold of 0.2 mg kg−1 Cd. Wavelengths with the highest ranks for Cd detection were between 519 and 574, and 692 and 732 nm, indicating that Cd content likely altered the plants’ chlorophyll content and altered leaf internal structure. All models were able to sort the plants into groups, though the model with the best F1 score was the ANN for the validation subset that utilized reflectance from all wavelengths. This study demonstrates that HSI and ML are promising technologies for the fast and precise diagnosis of Cd in leafy green plants, though additional studies are needed to adapt this approach for more complex field environments.

Kale is rich in various essential trace elements and phytochemicals, including glucosinolate and its hydrolyzed product isothiocyanate, which have significant anticancer properties. Nowadays, new types of pollutant microplastics (MP) pose a threat to global ecosystems due to their high bioaccumulation and persistent degradation. Silicon (Si) is commonly used to alleviate abiotic stresses, offering a promising approach to ensure safe food production. However, the mechanisms through which Si mitigates MP toxicity are unknown. In this study, a pot culture experiments was conducted to evaluate the morphogenetic, physiological, and biochemical responses of kale to Si supply under MP stress. The results showed that MP caused the production of reactive oxygen species, inhibited the growth and development of kale, and reduced the content of phytochemicals by interfering with the photosynthetic system, antioxidant defense system, and endogenous hormone regulation network. Si mitigated the adverse effects of MP by enhancing the photosynthetic capacity of kale, regulating the distribution of substances between primary and secondary metabolism, and strengthening the ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycling system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Xiaoqin Yao reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Xiaoqin Yao reports financial support was provided by Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Brassica vegetables may modulate cancer risk by regulation of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (XMEs). In a randomized crossover study, the effect of kale consumption on CYP1A2, CYP2A6, XO, and NAT2 activity was determined by urinary caffeine metabolite ratios, UGT1A1 activity by serum bilirubin concentrations, and GSTA protein and GST activity in blood by ELISA. Adults (n = 25) consumed a basal diet supplemented with kale and radish for 14 days or control vegetables. The kale diet increased CYP1A2 activity by 16.4% on day 8 and 15.2% on day 15 compared to control. Conjugated bilirubin was reduced by the kale diet, decreasing from 19.4 to 14.3 to 9.5% of total bilirubin on days 1, 8, and 15, respectively, which may be explained by induction of MRP2. Other XMEs were not affected by diet. The implications of these results for cancer risk will be clarified as the functions of these XMEs become better understood.

Dietary interventions have been proposed as an effective way to prevent age-related senescence. Here, we investigated the ability of kale juice (KJ) dietary supplementation to delay cognitive decline in the senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mouse. SAMP8 mice were fed a diet containing 0.8% (w/w) KJ or a control diet for 16 weeks, and cognitive performance was examined using the Morris water maze. KJ administration improved spatial and leaning memory as well as suppressed levels of serum 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine and brain malondialdehyde with respect to the control group. Furthermore, the KJ-fed group showed a significant increase in the gene transcription and protein expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). 1-Sinapoyl-2-feruloyl gentiobiose was identified as one of the active components of KJ affecting HSP70 expression. These findings suggest that dietary kale supplementation can suppress cognitive decline and age-related oxidative damage through the activation of HSP70 in SAMP8 mice.

This work aims to isolate and detect pesticide (carbendazim) residue in real food samples: orange juice and kale leaves. The combination of on-chip thin layer chromatography (TLC) and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy was used for the separating and detecting of carbendazim (MBC) from the complex food sample. In order to achieve on-site detection of MBC from real food sample, the portable Raman spectrometer was coupled with TLC-SERS. The porous stationary phase composed of diatomite biosilica is beneficial for SERS enhancement and eluent migration. The experiments exhibited that the diatomite chip was suitable for TLC separation and has not shown SERS background and provided excellent separation efficiency, 10 -8  M silver colloids were appropriate for the SERS measurement on TLC chip. The food sample was directly spotted onto the diatomite chip for TLC separation without any pretreatment. The separation and detection process were finished in less than 5 min, the mixture of pyrimethanil, pymetrozine and MBC could be distinguished simultaneously by TLC-SERS at one diatomite chip. The MBC in orange juice and kale were successfully detected, and a limit of detection (LOD) less than 2 ppm could be achieved., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)