Plant growth-promoting bacteria elevate the nutritional and functional properties of black cumin and flaxseed fixed...

In order to study the influence of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) belonging to Streptomyces sp., Paenibacillus sp., and Hymenobacter sp. on fixed oil content of flaxseed and black cumin, 2-year field experiments were conducted. PGPB was applied during seedtime of plants. The extraction of oil from seeds was performed using supercritical CO₂ .

The addition of PGPB significantly increases the content of C18:1 (from 16.06 ± 0.03% to 16.97 ± 0.03%) and C18:3 (from 42.97 ± 0.2% to 45.42 ± 0.5%) in flaxseed oil and C18:2 (from 52.68 ± 0.50% to 57.11 ± 0.40%) and C20:2 (from 4.34 ± 0.02% to 4.54 ± 0.03%) in black cumin seed oil. The contents of total polyphenols, flavonoids, and carotenoids, as well as antioxidant activity measured by ferric-reducing ability of plasma assay, were found to be greater in the oil from the seeds of plants treated with the PGPB, compared with the respective non-treated samples.

The use of PGPB enhances plant nutritive properties; these represent a great source for obtaining valuable functional food ingredients. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.