Eliciting plants consists in the application of chemical, physical, and biological factors that induce stressful conditions, and so trigger defense mechanisms and the production of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals. In this study, the phenolic and volatile organic compound (VOCs) profiles of sage leaves under a chronic ozone (O₃) exposure (120 ppb 5 h day⁻¹ for 36 consecutive days) were investigated, elucidating also their antioxidant activity. The composition, yield, and antioxidant capacity of essential oils (EOs) obtained from sage leaves were also evaluated. Ozone exposure resulted in an overall increase of phenolic compounds. In terms of VOCs, O₃ mainly reduced monoterpene emissions, while increased the production of sesquiterpenes (in both leaves and EOs). These O₃-induced accumulations were triggered during the first weeks of exposure, whereas they disappeared at the last time of analysis, suggesting that sage plants lost their ability (or interest) in activating secondary metabolism under high doses of O₃. The antioxidant capacity of all tested extracts resulted increased by O₃ exposure. These outcomes support our speculation that the application of O₃ for a limited period (i.e., a maximum of four weeks, at the investigated concentration) may become an effective biotechnological tool to improve the quality of sage leaf extracts.

诱导植物包括应用化学、物理和生物因素来诱导压力条件，从而触发防御机制以及生物活性化合物和植物化学物质的产生。在这项研究中，研究了鼠尾草在长期臭氧 (O ₃ ) 暴露（120 ppb 5 h 天^-1连续 36 天）下的酚类和挥发性有机化合物 (VOC) 谱，并阐明了它们的抗氧化活性。还评估了从鼠尾草叶中提取的精油 (EO) 的组成、产量和抗氧化能力。臭氧暴露导致酚类化合物的总体增加。就VOC而言，O ₃主要减少了单萜的排放，同时增加了倍半萜的产量（在叶子和 EO 中）。这些 O ₃诱导的积累在暴露的前几周被触发，而它们在最后一次分析时消失，表明鼠尾草植物在高剂量的 O ₃下失去了激活次级代谢的能力（或兴趣）。所有测试提取物的抗氧化能力都因 O ₃暴露而增加。这些结果支持我们的推测，即在有限的时间内（即最多 4 周，在研究浓度下）应用 O ₃可能成为提高鼠尾草叶提取物质量的有效生物技术工具。