Classification of farming systems by NMR widely targeted metabolomics: A cauliflower case study

Organic and conventional farming systems follow a set of specific rules and consumers usually pay an extra price for organic products, since they are associated with a higher quality. Nuclear magnetic resonance allows the analysis of the metabolome in a fast, non-destructive, and automatic way, with high coverage of chemical families and accurate quantification. Cauliflower corymbs obtained from two farming systems in two consecutive years were analyzed by 1 H NMR and cultivation systems were correctly classified by this approach. Eleven and 3 metabolites showed significantly higher concentrations in organic corymbs in the first and second year, respectively, indicating the impact of cultivation year in the search for markers in organic produce. These included amino acids (alanine), purines (xanthine), organic acids, and N-containing compounds (choline), demonstrating their higher nutritional quality. • 1 H NMR allowed the characterization and differentiation of cultivation systems. • There is a significant effect of the cultivation year in the discriminant compounds. • Nutritionally relevant compounds showed higher concentrations in organic samples.