Evaluation of the effects of light on the morphometric and biochemical profile of different cultivars of carrot (Daucus carota L.) under organic systems: sprouts, microgreens and baby leaves

The carrot (Daucus carota L.) is a vegetable crop belonging to the Apiaceae family and it is grown all around the world. It is a versatile root vegetable that is cultivated in several colours, shapes, and sizes. Nowadays, novel foods, such as sprouts, microgreens, and baby leaves, could represent an important perspective for human health for their bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds, carotenoids, flavonoids, helping to prevent chronic-degenerative human disease. In the present trial, the influence of different light conditions in relation to different growth stages of the plant (sprouts, microgreens, baby leaves, and post baby leaves) were evaluated among the commercial cultivars tested, which were ‘Nantese’ and ‘Rubrovitamina’. Seeds were sown in a cold greenhouse in Catania at the beginning of December 2022 in cellular trays using organic substrate. All the fresh biomass was collected at each growth stage of the plants. The harvested plantlets were analysed for their main morphometric traits, which were weight, hypocotyl length, length and width of cotyledon, number of true leaves, length and width of the true leaves, and characteristics of the epigeal and hypogeal parts of post baby leaves. The antioxidant capacity, total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids, and ascorbic acid were determined. The data showed several differences between the different experimental factors considered. Shading influenced the growth of the plants, particularly at the microgreen and baby-leaf stages, and the shade percentage of 30%, for antioxidant profile, showed a similar trend compared to the control.