Exploration of Foods and Foodomics

Table 1. Compositional differences between organic and conventional seeds.

Compositional parameter	*Trend in organic seeds/produce**	Possible explanation	Examples of crops reported
Phenolic compounds	Often higher	Increased plant stress response and activation of secondary metabolism in absence of synthetic pesticides	Common bean, soybean, grape, blueberry, zucchini, chia, rapeseed
Antioxidant compounds (ascorbate, tocopherols)	Often higher	Enhanced antioxidant defence mechanisms in plants exposed to biotic and abiotic stress	Various vegetable seeds
Carotenoids and secondary metabolites	Often higher	Activation of metabolic pathways related to stress tolerance and signalling	Vegetable and oilseed crops
Glucosinolates and defence metabolites	Potentially higher	Plant defence responses in low-input systems; nitrogen metabolism possibly implicated	Brassicaceae crops
Protein content	Sometimes lower but with higher quality	Differences in nitrogen availability and fertilization sources	Cereals and legumes
Mineral composition	Variable differences	Differences in soil management and nutrient availability	Various crops
Yield-related traits	Often similar or slightly lower	Differences in nutrient availability and pest pressure	Lettuce seeds, green bean seeds

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*: Based on reported comparisons, variations may occur depending on crop genotype, soil conditions, climate, and management practices.

Declarations

Author contributions

DAR: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. FPA: Conceptualization, Writing—review & editing. RFB: Writing—review & editing. ABC: Validation, Writing—review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza Argentina (Grant SIIP UNCuyo 2022 06/A007-T1; Grant SIIP UNCuyo 2025 Investigadores Noveles 80020240200036UN; Grant Fortalecimiento en Cs y Técnica UNCuyo 2025 06/80020240400061UN), and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET Argentina) (Grant PIP 11220200101692CO). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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