Impact of Iodine Biofortification on Tomato Bioaccessibility through Cooking, Soaking and Simulated Digestion

Abstract

Background: Even though iodine is not an essential micronutrient for the plant, it is very much needed for a person's mental and physical development. Due to the presence of negative charge on iodine it is highly susceptible to leaching. Further iodine is also highly prone to volatilization loss due to biochemical and physiochemical properties of soil leading to iodine deficiency. Agronomic biofortification of iodine is one of the ways to address iodine deficiency globally. Numerous studies have focused on the process by which plants absorb iodine from the soil, but there is still paucity of knowledge on stability of biofortified iodine in fruits. Methods: In our work, we assessed iodine bioavailability (Cooking, soaking and digestion) in tomato fruit from different sources of chitosan and potassium iodate alone and combinations using main and residual crop trials. The field experiment was carried out in Thondamuthur block of Viraliyur village at Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu in 2021. Potassium iodate and chitosan were applied in the form of soil, foliar, and chitosan iodate complex at different stages of plant growth. Results: The results suggested that combination and potassium iodate and chitosan complex has increased the iodine stability in fruits of main crop and also retained the iodine in residual crop. As electrostatic interaction between chitosan and iodate prevents volatilization and gradually stabilizes the bioavailability of iodine in fruits. Our findings offer more details on iodine mobility and behaviour in fruits when it is used alone and combination with chitosan at different rates