Exogenous Salicylic Acid Improves Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Table Grapes

Grapes contain high contents of phenolics, which are known to possess health promoting properties. Exogenous application of phytoregulators, mainly methyl jasmonate and abscisic acid, to grapevines to enhance phenolic content has been reported (Portu et al. Sci Hortic 240: 378-386, 2018; Ranjbaran et al. J Faculty Agric Kyushu Univ 56: 263-267, 2011). However, these phytohormones possess some drawbacks that can be overcome by using other phytoregulators as an alternative. In this work the effect of an additional phytohormone, salicylic acid, to grapevines on the phenolics and antioxidant activity of grapes was investigated. To our knowledge, salicylic acid has been earlier applied to grapevines to affect grape ripening and quality (Lóay. Egyptian J Basic Applied Sci 4: 227-230, 2017). However, this is the first time it is applied to increase the total phenolic content. As a result of our study, total phenol content and the free radical scavenging activity increased with 100 mg l^-1 of salicylic acid. In particular, the total phenol content increased from 768.3 to 1843.5 mg 100 g^-1 and the IC₅₀ values decreased from 45.2 to 13.2 mg ml^-1. Also the contents of individual phenolics mostly increased significantly with 100 mg l^-1 of salicylic acid, except anthocyanins. Higher concentrations of salicylic acid (ie, 500 mg l^-1vs 100 mg l^-1) did not result in higher contents of phenolics. Therefore, 100 mg l^-1 was selected as the best salicylic acid concentration to be used in the treatment. The application of exogenous salicylic acid to grapevines is an interesting agronomic practice to obtain table grapes with improved health-promoting properties.