Vegetable amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus L.) is gaining importance among the African indigenous leafy vegetables (AIVs) in the diets of many households in Africa. However, improper processing, handling, and storage of AIVs often result in faster deterioration thus high quantitative and qualitative losses with reduced availability of these highly nutritive and health promoting plants. Targeted application of UV-C has been shown to induce beneficial physiological responses of crops after harvest. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of postharvest UV-C application on health promoting secondary plant compounds of vegetable amaranth cv. Madiira. Eight weeks after planting, leaves were harvested and treated with UV-C (254 nm) at either 1.7 kJ m⁻² or 3.4 kJ m⁻² while untreated leaves served as control. The leaves were kept up to 4 d and 14 d at 20 °C (65% RH) and 5 °C (85% RH), respectively. Characteristic health promoting plant compounds, such as vitamin E, carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, as well as glutathione peroxidase (GPOX) activity and antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and their correlations were analyzed. Results showed that the accumulation of secondary metabolites was dependent on UV-C dosage, storage temperature and duration. Vitamin E, carotenoids (e.g. lycopene, β-carotene and lutein), flavonoids (e.g. quercetin and kaempferol derivatives), phenolic acids (e.g. ferulic, coumaric and caffeic acid derivatives) as well as GPOX activity and TEAC increased in UV-C treated vegetable amaranth leaves compared with the untreated samples. Furthermore, there was a relationship in most studied secondary compounds and TEAC. The UV-C effects at both storage conditions were comparable for most studied compounds while storage duration variedly affected the compounds studied. The increase in the studied secondary plant compounds is attributed to their plant defense mechanism against oxidative damage of plant tissues by UV-C irradiation. This could be an important strategy in reducing the loss of secondary plant compounds, hence maintaining nutritional and health promoting properties of AIVs during postharvest supply chain.

在非洲许多家庭的饮食中，菜a菜（Amaranthus cruentus L.）在非洲土著叶菜类蔬菜（AIV）中正变得越来越重要。但是，AIV的不正确加工，处理和储存通常会导致更快的恶化，从而导致数量和质量上的大量损失，同时降低了这些高度营养和健康促进植物的利用率。已经表明，有针对性地施用UV-C可以在收获后诱导农作物的有益生理响应。进行本研究以评估收获后UV-C施用对蔬菜a菜简历中促进健康的次生植物化合物的影响。Madiira。种植八周后，收获叶片并以1.7 kJ m ^-2或3.4 kJ m的UV-C（254 nm）处理⁻²而未经处理的叶子作为对照。将叶片分别在20°C（65％RH）和5°C（85％RH）下分别保持4 d和14 d。分析了促进健康的特征性植物化合物，例如维生素E，类胡萝卜素，类黄酮，酚酸以及谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GPOX）活性和抗氧化能力（TEAC）及其相关性。结果表明，次生代谢产物的积累取决于UV-C剂量，储存温度和持续时间。紫外线处理过的蔬菜中的维生素E，类胡萝卜素（例如番茄红素，β-胡萝卜素和叶黄素），类黄酮（例如槲皮素和山emp酚衍生物），酚酸（例如阿魏酸，香豆酸和咖啡酸衍生物）以及GPOX活性和TEAC增加mar菜叶与未处理的样品相比。此外，大多数研究过的次要化合物和TEAC之间存在相关性。对于大多数研究的化合物，两种储存条件下的UV-C效果均相当，而储存时间则对所研究的化合物产生不同影响。所研究的次生植物化合物的增加归因于其针对UV-C辐射对植物组织的氧化损伤的植物防御机制。这可能是减少次生植物化合物损失的重要策略，从而在收获后的供应链中保持AIV的营养和健康促进特性。所研究的次生植物化合物的增加归因于其抵御UV-C辐射对植物组织的氧化损伤的植物防御机制。这可能是减少次生植物化合物损失的重要策略，从而在收获后的供应链中保持AIV的营养和健康促进特性。所研究的次生植物化合物的增加归因于其针对UV-C辐射对植物组织的氧化损伤的植物防御机制。这可能是减少次生植物化合物损失的重要策略，从而在收获后的供应链中保持AIV的营养和健康促进特性。