Perspectives on the cultivation in vertical farming of the Sardinian endemics Hypericum scruglii Bacch., Brullo & Salmeri

Vertical farming is intended as the indoor cultivation of plants in vertically stacked layers involving the use of artificial lighting, climate control systems, and sensors. Hypericum scruglii Bacch., Brullo & Salmeri is a Sardinian exclusive endemism with promising biological properties in the medicinal and cosmetic fields. The use of the plant however at the date is unfeasible due its rarity and conservation status. In order to scaffold a sustainable use of the species, the present work aims at investigating the effects of vertical farming on H. scruglii in terms of growth and maintenance of its chemical features and biological properties. To this end i) H. scruglii plants were cultivated in vertical farming for six months and subjected to controlled temperature, lighting, irrigation and relative humidity; ii) two extracts, from plants cultivated in vertical farming and sampled from natural populations were obtained; iii) extracts were characterized and compared in terms of total phenolic and flavonoid content, 1H NMR and HPLC-FLD profiling, antidiabetic and antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity. Our results showed that H. scruglii cultivated in vertical farming retains its phytochemical profile and key metabolites while exhibiting strong α-glucosidase inhibition, antioxidant activity (evaluated both via ABTS test and MTT assay on Caco-2 cells), and no cytotoxic effects. The present study demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of the cultivation in vertical farming of H. scruglii, supporting the potential of vertical farming to enable the sustainable use and the conservation of rare yet valuable medicinal plants.