Agradecimentos: This study was financed by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - Brazil (CNPq) (Grant #142068/2020-9) and by the project code 14836-202101/2021 approved in the call 01/2021 PROPESQ/PRPG/UFPB. A. S. Sant'Ana acknowledges the financial support of "Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico" (CNPq) (#302763/2014-7, and #305804/2017-0). The authors would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES - Finance Code 001), and "Empresa Paraibana de Abastecimento e Serviços Agrícolas" (EMPASA) for the donation of the horticultural biocompost and for providing the space for the field experiment Ver menos

Abstract: Edible flowers have been widely consumed fresh in drinks, salads, desserts and salty dishes. This study evaluated the color parameters, chemical composition (phenolics, sugars, organic acids), volatiles compounds and microbiota (bacterial and fungal communities) in edible purple flowers (Torenia fournieri F. Lind.) cultivated in biocompost and traditional organic systems. Torenia flowers cultivated in biocompost had high (p < 0.05) contents of anthocyanins (cyanidin 3,5-diglucoside, delphinidin 3-glucoside), flavonols (quercitin 3-glycoside, myricetin and rutin), sugars (rhamnose and glucose), organic acids (citric and succinic), aldehydes (hexanal, cis-2-hexenal and trans-2-hexenal), and alcohols (trans-2-hexenol and 3-ethyl-4-methylpentan-1-ol). Flowers cultivated in biocompost showed higher (p < 0.05) abundance Cyanobacteria and Basidiomycota bacterial and fungal phyla, respectively, than flowers cultivated in traditional system. The high abundance of Oxyphotobacteria and Dothideomycetes classes, Acetobacterales and Cladosporiales orders, Oxyphotobacteriaceae and Cladosporiaceae families, and Raoultella and Cladosporium genera characterized torenia flowers cultivated in biocompost. The cultivation system influenced the torenia flowers microbiota and composition, primarily due to environmental response and enhanced uptake of nutrients. Our findings indicate that cultivation of torenia using the agroindustrial based-biocompost improves bioactive and volatiles contents in more purple and fruity flavored flowers, rendering flowers more attractive for consumption Ver menos