Even though kale is a frost tolerant plant, there is little research
on how low temperatures inducing cold acclimatisation affect the
nutritional and health-promoting quality. In this paper we hypothesised
that growth conditions associated with latitudinal growth
sites can affect the levels of both the primary metabolite, sugars
and fatty acids, as well as the secondary plant metabolite, glucosinolates,
before and after a cold acclimatisation period. The frost tolerance
is also believed to be affected by the conditions the plants
have grown under before a cold acclimatisation period, in addition
to the cold acclimatisation treatment which is known to increase
the frost tolerance. With the increased interest in content of compounds
associated with human health, elucidating the effects of
environmental growth conditions and cold acclimatisation is of
interest to growers and consumers.
In the present study the aim was therefore to see how the levels
of glucosinolates, fatty acids and soluble sugars in kale related to
temperature, photoperiod during growth and subsequent cold
acclimatisation.