AUTHOR=Al Jaouni Soad , Selim Samy , Hassan Sherif H. , Mohamad Hussein S. H. , Wadaan Mohammed A. M. , Hozzein Wael N. , Asard Han , AbdElgawad Hamada 

TITLE=Vermicompost Supply Modifies Chemical Composition and Improves Nutritive and Medicinal Properties of Date Palm Fruits From Saudi Arabia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00424

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2019.00424

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=To meet the increased needs for phytochemicals, plant cultivation in soil amended with biofertilizers has been developed. Here we aimed to use vermicompost as an environmentally safe approach to enhance the nutritive and health-promoting value of five common Saudi date cultivars i.e. Phoenix dactylifera L. var.  Ajwa, Hulwa, Ruthana, Sefri and Luban. To determine changes in fruit nutritive composition, primary metabolism, antioxidants, phenolic compounds, and mineral profiles were analyzed in fruits from non-fertilized and vermicompost-fertilized dates palms. We also tested how changes in the date chemical profiles affected their medicinal potentials. Applying vermicomposts generally increased primary metabolites, vitamins and mineral content as well as the medicinal potential of the date cultivars. This positive effect is possibly explained by the role of vermicomposts in improving soil heath and fertility. Furthermore, clustering analyses and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated cultivar-specific responses. PCA analysis also revealed that bioactivities of date palm extracts and their antioxidants tended to display correlated output values. One of the highly accumulated phenolic compounds, β-D-glucogalline, was extracted and purified from P. dactylifera L. var.  Ajwa fruits and showed significant antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, antimutagenic and antiprotozoal activities. Overall, applying vermicompost is an innovative approach to increase the nutritive quality and medicinal potential of date palm fruits.