## 3 Results  
The results of the mineral nutrient analysis of leaves (Figure 1) revealed a general maintenance of macronutrients (Figure 1a) and micronutrients (Figure 1b) of _I.__batatas_ leaves after the treatments were applied. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**Gene Name** & **Forward (3’-5’)** & **Reverse (3’-5’)** \\ \hline IbNIP1;1 & CATGCCTCTACACGCGTCG & GGTCCCAGTGTGTAGAG \\ IbNIP1;2 & GCAAGGATTITGGGTCC & CCTCAGATGTGTAGACC \\ IbNIP1;3 & TGATGCGCAGAGTAATG & GGAGAGTGAAAGTAATG \\ IbNIP2;1 & GGAGAATGAAAGACGAAAGG & TCACAAAACCCAAAATACG \\ IbNIP4;1 & CTGGAGCGTCAATGAACC & TGTGATGTTAAGCACG \\ IbNIP4;2 & CATTCAAAAGATGATGATGATGATGACGA & CATAACCATGACCAAACC \\ IbNIP5;1 & AATACGAGCTGGTCAG & CTGGATTCCGGTACACACG \\ IbNIP5;2 & GACTGCGCAGTTATGATGATGATGGAACG \\ IbNIP5;3 & CGTGTCTCACCGCATTTTCC & GCATTCCAATCAACCGACT \\ IbNIP6;1 & AGAAAAGGTGGGAGG & GGTGAAGATGGTGTGTGG \\ IbNIP7;1 & TATATGAAAGACACACCTC & TCGAAAAAAAATCTGC \\ IbBOR1 & CGTGCACTACAATTGCCTC & TGACACACTTTGTGATCCGG \\ IbBOR11 & CTTGCCATGATGATGGTGTGT & ATCCAAAACAGCCTCTCCAGC \\ IbBOR2 & TATCGAGCATGCAAAGGC & GCCCAATGTGCCCCTGTACT \\ IbBOR4 & ATGGGCGTGTGTAGGGTCATA & CTGAACCAGCCTGTGTGCATA \\ IbBOR7;1 & CGTCTGCTCTTTCCGGTCAT & TGCCGGCAAAAAGTGTACAGA \\ IbACT & TGCCGTATGACAAGTGA & GGAGCGAGGTGTGTAAATT \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Primer set used to perform expression analysis. In particular, only B, Fe, and Mn changed after the treatment application. The rest of the nutrient did not show significant differences between the control plant leaves and any of the B treatments (free and encapsulated). The concentration of B (Figure 1c) showed a significant increase when free B was applied, although this increase was higher with encapsulated B, with almost ten times greater concentrations of B in leaves observed when directly compared with control plants leaves, according to Duncan algorithm \(p<0.05\). Likewise, significant differences also appeared between the free B and encapsulated B treatments, being 1.5-fold higher in encapsulated B treatments. Additionally, Mn (Figure 1d) and Fe (Figure 1e) showed significant increases after B application. However, the values did not significantly differ between the B treatments. Additionally, the analysis of the chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, and lycopene pigments (Figure 2) revealed the highest concentration of chlorophyll a as compared to the other pigments, although the concentration of chlorophyll b, carotenoids, and lycopene (as part of the carotenoids) was similar in control and B-treated plant leaves. Overall, no differences were observed between plant leaf pigments among treatments. Figure 1: Analysis of mineral nutrients in _I. butatas_ leaves. (**a**) Radial stacked bar representing relative quantities of macronutrients presented in _I. butatas_ leaves of control (C), free boron (FB) and encapsulated boron (EB) treatments. (**b**) Radial stacked bar representing relative quantification of some micronutrients. (**c**) Boron quantification in mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) of dry mass in _I. butatas_ leaves. (**d**) Manganese quantification in mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) of dry mass in _I. butatas_ leaves. (**e**) Iron quantification in mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) of dry mass in _I. butatas_ leaves. Different letters in (**c–e**) mean statistical differences \(p<0.05\). The metabolomics analysis (Table 2) showed that organics such as citric acid, formic acid, and malic acid appeared in relatively high concentrations. However, only formic acid showed a significant increase and only after encapsulated B was applied. The determination of amino acids showed that only asparagine and valine showed significant increases when encapsulated B was applied, but no significant differences appeared between control and free B. It was also observed that asparagine was the amino acid with the highest concentration, being 10 times higher than arginine and glutamine.