Strategies that Influence the Production of Secondary Metabolites in Plants

Challenge of today’s agriculture requires the innovative application of techniques and methodologies to increase the production of high nutritional quality food crops with greater vigor and more productivity. In the previous decades, consumers have been looking for foods that not only provide the nutrients (lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins) but also the compounds with health benefits, such as carotenoids, flavonoids, phenols; these are not part of the plant’s primary metabolism but provide protection, attraction, survival, aroma, color, flavor, etc. The production of several of these compounds, known as secondary metabolites, is influenced by a wide range of factors such as biotic and abiotic stresses, types of fertilization, agronomic management, elicitors, and, recently, the presence of nanoparticles, without neglecting the use of biostimulators and biocontrollers, in addition to metabolic engineering manipulation. These factors influence both positively and negatively the production of secondary metabolites, giving the plant strategies for its adaptation and survival, as well as compounds with biological activity that contribute to the health of the human being. In this sense, the present proposal intends to gather relevant and current information on how some of these strategies influence the production of secondary metabolites in plants.