Mineral content and antioxidant compounds in strawberry fruit submitted to drough stress

Abstract Due mainly to the taste and appearance, the strawberry stands out in relation to the other fruits. and for the presence of antioxidant compounds. However, little attention has been devoted to the impact of abiotic stresses on the quality of strawberry and its agronomic performance. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of two levels of DS (L1 - 70% and L2 - 50% of crop evapotranspiration) on the quality of strawberry fruit and on some agronomic and physiological variables. There was a dose-dependent reduction in the evaluated agronomic variables in the DS plants, and the content of some minerals in the fruit and leaves was modified. The activities of the oxidative enzymes were higher in the fruit of L2 treatment, and the content of sucrose, reduced sugars, phenolic compounds and the total antioxidant activity were increased in the fruit from L2 treatment; while those of anthocyanins and L-ascorbic acid were reduced in L1 and L2 treatments, respectively. The phenylalanine ammonia lyase gene was upregulated and other genes related to phenylpropanoid and ascorbate pathways were downregulated in the fruit of stressed plants. Thus, our results indicate that DS seems to be a promising strategy to improve the content of antioxidant compounds and sugars.