Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (2025)

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Home > Books > Symbiotic Interactions - From Mutualistic Alliances to Parasitic Exploits [Working Title]

Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (2)Open access peer-reviewed chapter - ONLINE FIRST

Written By

José Alberto Gío-Trujillo and Carlos Juan Alvarado-López

Submitted: 21 August 2024 Reviewed: 21 August 2024 Published: 14 January 2025

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.1007162

Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (3)

Symbiotic Interactions - From Mutualistic Alliances to Parasitic ...

Edited by Habib Ali

From the Edited Volume

Symbiotic Interactions - From Mutualistic Alliances to Parasitic Exploits [Working Title]

Dr. Habib Ali

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Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play an important role in the nutritional dynamics of plants. Influencing the extraction, translocation and distribution of minerals from the soil to the plant. This has a positive effect on the mineral and nutritional content of agricultural crops. Therefore, HMA is considered a sustainable alternative, reducing the use of fertilizers by up to 50–70%. It should also be taken into account as a microbial soil resource that can contribute to self-sufficiency, food security and sovereignty in marginalized soils and areas vulnerable to population malnutrition. This chapter mentions relevant studies in relation to mycorrhizal interaction with the quality of plant foods. Recent findings have reported an increase in zinc and iron content in basic grains. Some alternative crops such as fruit, vegetables and edible foliage, have increased their phytochemical content (organic acids, phenols, carotenoids, etc.) and post-harvest properties such as texture, colorimetry and sugar content. This directly influences the taste, smell and palatability of food. In conclusion, AMF is considered a strategy to optimize and transform agro-food systems, oriented toward nutritional and sensory enrichment of plant tissues that can be used for human consumption.

Keywords

  • mycorrhizae
  • mycorrhizal symbiosis
  • agricultural crops
  • biofertilizer
  • mineral nutrients
  • vitamins
  • food insufficiency
  • food safety

Author Information

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  • José Alberto Gío-Trujillo*

    • National Technological Institute of Mexico, Conkal Campus, Avenida Tecnológico, Yucatán, Mexico
  • Carlos Juan Alvarado-López

    • National Technological Institute of Mexico, Conkal Campus, Avenida Tecnológico, Yucatán, Mexico

*Address all correspondence to: albertogio88@hotmail.com

1. Introduction

Global food insecurity affects more than 700 million people in the world. This means that one-third of the population does not have access to food with high nutritional value [1, 2]. Increasing socio-economic deficit and the increase in major risk factors (socio-economic well-being and health) in vulnerable areas of the population (Figure 1) [3].

Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (4)

In this context, soil, considered the core of the global food system, is the main determinant of food productivity, accessibility and nutritional quality, constituting the origin of about 95% of food [4]. Nutrient depletion in soil (marginal soils) and prevailing conventional agricultural strategies such as excessive inorganic fertilization, extensive agriculture, and use of agricultural pesticides, directly influence mineral bioavailability (macro and microelements) of soils and their dynamics with agro-food systems [4, 5]. This compromises the quality of agricultural crops and their nutritional value by reducing the bioavailability of mineral elements in soil and the ability of plants to absorb, transfer and accumulate nutrients in plant tissues (roots, leaves, stems, fruits and seeds) for human consumption, which are essential to the diet and nutritional health of the world population [6, 7].

For the above, the association of beneficial microbial communities in soil is considered a novel strategy to maintain soil health, producing nutritious, safe (safe) and accessible food for the entire world population [4, 8, 9, 10]. The use of shrubby mycorrhizal fungi (AMH), considered an important microbial fraction of soils, plays a key role in modern agriculture as a promising method to increase soil productivity, profitability and fertility. Also, increasing the quality of plant-based foods [11, 12]. By intervening directly in the mineral nutrition of plants. This has a positive effect on its vigor, its efficiency, its physiology and greater transport of minerals from the soil to the plant, facilitating their accumulation and distribution in the plant biomass of associated crops (Figure 2) [13, 14].

Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (5)

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2. Agricultural crops-soil microbial consortia

The efficient use of chemical fertilizers is undoubtedly the main problem of crops in modern agriculture because they oversaturate the soil with minerals, and their use does not guarantee adequate absorption by plants and efficient distribution to human-edible plant tissues [15]. Due to its efficient management in mineral nutrition of crops, directly related to crop growth, development and productivity, the association of rhizophilous microorganisms is considered a potential agricultural tool and an important soil resource for plant communities, which influences sustainable food production from plant sources [10, 16]. Therefore, the association with soil microorganisms can be considered as promising biostimulants of plant nutrition through its different mechanisms of action with host crops, with the expectation of improving nutritional and phytochemical composition of food [17, 18].

A synergistic effect has been documented between the dual inoculation of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)+arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), enhancing the positive effects of microbial interaction with host cultures [19]. Today, the expectations of the use of microbial consortia in modern agriculture are oriented toward the benefits they bring in the quality of agricultural crops and the production of food with higher nutritional contributions [20]. In this sense, dual inoculation between HMA+PGPR has reported a higher mineral content in the production of basic crops. The AMF+Bacillus subtilis increased the mineral profile in wheat grain and corn, mainly in the concentrations of phosphorus, nitrogen, iron and zinc [21, 22]. Also, the co-inoculation of bacteria solubilizers of microelements-HMA in soil (Selenobacteria, Zn solubilizing bacteria, among others), induces positive effects on cereal production, mainly in the increase of the concentration of Se in wheat [23] and the content of Zn in maize grains, constituting an increase of up to 10% [24].

In horticultural and fruit production, the same findings have been reported regarding the nutritional quality of the crop. In fruits of Solanum lycopersicum, increases in vitamin C value, organic acids and sugar content [25, 26] and an increase in phosphorus, calcium and vitamin C composition [27] were observed when using a consortium of AMF and PGPR strains (Pseudomonas putida, Azotobacter chroococcum and Azosprillum lipoferum). In other horticultural crops. In Capsicum annuum fruits associated with AMF+bacterial consortium of Bacillus megaterium Pseudomonas fluorecens, Azospirillum brasilense and Azotobacter chrocococum, higher concentrations of lipids and proteins were determined [28]. These benefits respond to the synergistic effects between AMF and bacterial communities in the rhizosphere, by stimulating plant metabolism [29] and promoting their mineral nutrition, producing organic acids that have a plant-based biostimulant/adjuvant effect (solubilization) of soil minerals, allowing the plant to make better use of nutrients [19, 20].

2.1 Mycorrhizal fungi

The symbiotic interaction between the mycelium of a wide variety of bound biotroph fungi belonging to the Zygomycetes class and the root system of terrestrial plants is called mycorrhiza. Glomerular mycorrhizal fungi are distributed in almost all terrestrial ecosystems, from agroecosystems to family gardens and the diversity of natural ecosystems (succession systems, low, medium, high forests, temperate forests, coastal dunes) from a wide variety of regions of the world [30]. The most important subgroup of mycorrhizal fungi is the endomycorrhizal fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMH), of the phylum Glomerycota, class Glomeromycetes, which are divided into four orders and 11 families. The HMAs colonize approximately 200,000 species and about 92% of terrestrial plant families, mainly of agricultural interest such as herbaceous plants, solanaceas, grasses, legumes and tree species of interest for fruit and forest, developing different degrees of dependence [31, 32, 33].

2.2 Mycorrhizal fungi: Mineral transporters

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are considered one of the main microbial components involved in soil mineral homeostasis, playing a key role as an interface between host plants and the dynamics and solubility of nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen, iron and zinc [34, 35, 36]. In this context, the involvement of different regulatory mechanisms and strategies for homeostasis of low-mobile minerals in soil has been documented, mainly through processes at the protein level (protein-level chelation) using glutathione, Phyto-chelatins, metallothionenes and metallochaperones. Heavy metal chelation may be favored by the presence of glomeralin, excreted by some genera of HMA, mainly those belonging to the family Glomeraceae, which stabilize the presence of minerals in the soil [12, 34].

During the symbiotic phase between the plant and a mycorrhizal arbuscular fungus, an important bidirectional flow of nutrients develops between the fungus and the plant, regulated by a mechanism of genomic transcription and activation-expression of carrier genes that enable the plant to acquire minerals that are poorly soluble or insoluble in soil [37]. For example, phosphorus, the main mineral mobilized by symbiosis, is transferred in the form of phosphates (Pi) by high-affinity transporters. Nitrogen is in turn transferred by ammonium or nitrate transporters [33]. The presence of major transcriptional activity of mineral transporters between extraradial mycelium and the cell wall of plant radical hairs (ranging from epidermal cells, cortical layer and pericycle) has been identified, through the plasma membrane of the extensive mycelial network formed by the fungus-root interaction of the plant as a first phase, followed by mobility via intracellular structures (intraradical hyphae, arbusculus, periarbuscular membrane), until the transfer of minerals to [12, 34].

Recently, a variety of high-affinity fungus-plant carrier genes have been identified as regulating the absorption of minerals absorbed from the soil into the plant [37, 38]. Mycorrhizal colonization (mycelial network) has been reported to have a positive effect on the absorption of Fe in soil, through expression of the genes HaFRO1, HaNramp1 and HaIRT1 [39]. In addition, they have been reported in the expression of other iron reductase groups (permeases) and ferroxidases such as NRAMP, RISMF1, RISMF2, RISMF3.1, RISMF3.2 [40, 41], SbDMAS2, SbNAS2 and SbYS1 [42]. As well as ZmNAS1, ZmNAS3 and ZmYS1, which are involved in the solubility and absorption of Zn/Fe in plants [43]. About 30 mineral-carrying genes such as Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn have been detected in Rhizophagus irregularis. Of these, eight main families of mineral-carrying genes have been identified, such as CTR (Cu), P1b-ATPase (Cu), SIT (SIT-Fe), OFET (Fe), VIT (Fe/Mn), ZIP (Zn, Mn), Cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) (Fe, Zn, Mn) and NRAMP (Fe, Mn, Fe/Mn) [34, 43]. In other studies, the main groups of participants are mentioned: Mn-Fe (SMF1), Cu fungal (CTR), Cu vegetal (COPt), Cu-ATPase (CCC2), Fe-Mn (CCC1.3), permeasa Fe (FTR1), Zn (ZRT1), permeasa Zn-Fe (ZIP, some also carry Mn) and CDF (Cation diffusion facilitator) [12]. Based on the above, these mechanisms regulated by an intermediate such as HMA (mycorrhizal pathway), potentially influence the processes of phyto-extraction-translocation of minerals, accumulating a higher concentration of nutrients in plants, Redistributing them more efficiently to plant tissues and biomass. This impliesn better distribution and concentration of mineral nutrients in the biomass and plant tissues such as fruits, stems, foliage, sprouts and seeds [12, 44, 45].

2.3 Mycorrhizal fungi-food security

Inoculation of agricultural crops with shrubbery fungi has been mentioned as a viable strategy to address the problem of food insecurity and insufficiency, transforming agro-food systems toward sustainable agricultural practices [11] The Commission’s proposal for a Council decision on the European Union’s action program in the field of education and training. Mycorrhizal fungi are directly involved in the mineral nutrition of associated crops, playing an important role as plant biofertilizer or biostimulant [18]. Mainly by the release and stimulation of estrigolactones (SL), a phytohormone, key to greater flow in the transport, distribution and balance of minerals in plants. Reflecting a positive effect on the growth and morphological development of its host [36]. This synergy between HMA and SL increases various agronomic aspects in their phytosanitary status (increased resistance to adverse conditions, pests and diseases), vigor and agricultural productivity [46]. Over the last decade, there has been evidence of HMA’s role as quality regulators in food production, focusing on increasing mineral concentrations of Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn in plant tissues fit for human consumption [13, 14]. Recent findings report a positive influence on the quality of agricultural grains in basic crops [47], increasing the mineral profile of N, P, Zn and Fe in cereals such as sorghum [48], chickpea [49], rice [50], barley [51], wheat [52, 53, 54] and maize [24].

In particular, the prospects of association of agricultural crops with HMA have been oriented to improve crop quality for good market acceptance and added value, by increasing the main sensory attributes (taste, color, smell, texture) and nutritional in alternative crops, such as legumes, oilseeds, edible forages, fruits and vegetables (Figure 3) [55, 56, 57].

Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (6)

Table 1 shows relevant studies on the quality of agricultural crops associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, influencing their mineral composition, nutraceuticals, weight, size, sensory and organoleptic parameters.

Speciesbenefited plant tissueMain effectReferences
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)FruitImproved weight and size development in fruit; Increased composition of phenols, flavonoids, soluble solids and antioxidant capacity[57, 58]
Black bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)LegumeIncreasedP, K, Cu and Zn content[59]
Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo)FruitImproved fruit development (weight and size)[57]
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)FruitImproved fruit development (weight and size)[60]
Chicory (Cichorium intybus,)FoliageIncreased content of Fe, Zn, fructose, inulin and carotenoid compounds[61]
Strawberry (Fragaria X ananassa)FruitIncreased composition of phenols, flavonoids, soluble solids and Se[62, 63, 64]
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)FruitImproved fruit development (weight and size). Increased concentrations of N, P, Cu, antioxidant capacity and carotenoid content (lycopene). Improved texture, pH, soluble solids content, phenols and organic acids of the fruit[65, 66, 67, 68, 69]
Pineapple (Ananas comosus)FruitIncrease in weight and size of fruit[69]
Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)FruitIncreased content of sugars and organic acids[70]
Garlic (Allium sativum)BulbIncreased composition of Se[71, 72, 73]
Onion (Allium cepa)BulbIncreased composition of Se, Ca, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), thiamine (vitamin B1), antioxidant activity and organic acids[71, 73, 74]
Wild leeks (Allium tricocum)BulbImproved fruit development (weight and size). Increased nutraceutical values ​​and mineral composition[73]
Chili pepper (Capsicum annum)FruitIncreased chlorophyll, Fe, Zn, N and P in foliage. Improved fruit development (weight and size)[75]
Chili piquin (Capsicum annuum var. labriusculum)FruitIncrease in the content of phenols, soluble solids and vitamins[76]
Papaya (Carica papaya)FruitIncrease in sugar content[77]
Melón (Cucumis melo)FruitIncrease in pulp thickness, peel thickness (texture), sugar content, protein concentrations, polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids and ascorbic acid. Increase in weight and size of fruit[78, 79]
Moringa (Moringa oleífera)FoliageIncreased composition of Cu, Zn and glucosinolates in foliage[80]
Mint (Mentha pulegium)FoliageIncrease in the content of sugars, carotenoid compounds, phenols, flavonoids and organic acids[81]
Parsley (Petroselinum hortense)FoliageImproved content of carotenoids, phenols, flavonoids and organic acids[81]
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)FoliageIncreased content of phenols[82]
Celery (Apium graveolens)Stem and foliageIncreased content of Se[83]
Mandarin (Citrus reticulata)FruitImproved fruit development (weight and size). Increased sugar, vitamin C, phenol and total flavonoid content[84]
Orange (Citrus × sinensis)FruitImproved fruit development. Increased sugar, vitamin C, phenol and total flavonoid content[84]
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)FoliageIncreased Fe, Zn, S, Ca and P concentrations[38]

Table 1.

Review of the main contributions of the arbuscular mycorrhizal association with alternative crops in relation to their increase in phytochemistry, nutritional and sensory quality and harvest yield (size and weight).

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3. Conclusion

In general, the interaction of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi represents an important agronomic method toward sustainability and food security, which closely influences the mineral nutrition of plants, being related to the increase in the profitability of both crops (number of fruits) and the quality of the fruit harvest (polar diameter; equatorial diameter and weight). Likewise, it has been shown that the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis with a great diversity of agricultural crops turns out to be an important factor in different sensory and chemical attributes of the fruit in post-harvest. For example, the positive influence on firmness (texture), colorimetry (peel and pulp), sugar content (° Brix) and the presence of organic acids that directly influence the flavor of the fruit is mentioned.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the institutions TECNM, Tizimín Campus, Valle de Oaxaca Campus, CIDIR, Oaxaca Unit and CIATEJ, Sureste Unit, for providing the facilities to develop this review. We would also like to thank the TECNM PhD program, Conkal Campus and CONAHCYT for the postgraduate scholarship awarded (623916).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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José Alberto Gío-Trujillo and Carlos Juan Alvarado-López

Submitted: 21 August 2024 Reviewed: 21 August 2024 Published: 14 January 2025

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Enhancing Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Plant-Based Foods through Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (2025)
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