Exploratory Assessment to Evaluate Seed Sprouting under Elevated CO<sub>2</sub> Revealed Improved Biomass, Physiology, and Nutritional Value of <i>Trachyspermum ammi</i>
Abdelrahim H. A. Hassan,
Mohammad K. Okla,
Saud A. Al-amri,
Mohamed A. El-Tayeb,
Ihab M. Moussa,
Yahaya B. Elbadawi,
Mostafa A. Adel-Maksoud,
Fatma H. M. Ali,
Khalid S. Almaary,
Samy Selim,
Hamada AbdElgawad
Affiliations
Abdelrahim H. A. Hassan
Department of Food Safety and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt
Mohammad K. Okla
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Saud A. Al-amri
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed A. El-Tayeb
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ihab M. Moussa
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Yahaya B. Elbadawi
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mostafa A. Adel-Maksoud
Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Fatma H. M. Ali
Department of Food Safety and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt
Khalid S. Almaary
Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Samy Selim
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jouf University, Sakaka 3628, Saudi Arabia
Hamada AbdElgawad
Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni‒Suef 62521, Egypt
Elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) can significantly enhance plant metabolism and improve their nutritional quality. Although several studies addressed the effect of eCO2 on plants, to our knowledge, there are no studies that have applied eCO2 to improve growth, chemical composition, and biological properties of ajwain (Trachyspermum ammi) during sprouting. Herein, eCO2 (620 µmol mol−1) was employed to enhance photosynthetic reactions. Improved photosynthesis induced primary and bioactive secondary metabolism, which led to improved biological activities of T. ammi sprouts in comparison with control sprouts and seeds. eCO2-treated sprouts showed significantly (p 2 significantly improved the antimicrobial properties of T. ammi sprouts against 11 out of 13 microbial species than control sprouts, which had more potent antimicrobial activities than seeds. The significant increase in the antioxidant potential of treated sprouts was indicated by improved levels of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), DPPH, and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). In addition, the anticancer activity against four different human tumor cell lines was significantly (p 2 exposure. Thus, the present study confirms the synergistic effect of sprouting with eCO2 exposure as promising approaches to produce ajwain sprouts with rich nutraceuticals, effective phytochemicals, and enhanced biological activities.
