## 3 Results and Discussion
### Effect of SA Seed Priming on the Phenolics Composition  
Antioxidant and chelating properties of phenolic compounds are essential in the adaptive behavior to Fe deficiency [1]. Therefore, total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid contents (TFC) were studied in hydromethanonic extracts of both control and treated _S. carnosa_ plants. As summarized in Table 3, the level of phenolics varied significantly in both varieties, being superior in KA (7.19 \(\pm\) 0.13 mg GAE/gDW for TPC and 3.26 \(\pm\) 0.28 mg CE/g DW for TFC, respectively) compared to SK (4.46 \(\pm\) 0.09 mg GAE/gDW for TPC and 2.15 \(\pm\) 0.07 mg CE/g DW for TFC, respectively). Under D conditions, a significant decrease of phenolic pools was observed in KA (ca. 51 and 53%, respectively for TPC and TFC, compared to the control C), while the contents of such metabolites remained unchanged in SK. The two varieties also reacted differently to SA treatments: SK raised the contents of TPC and TFC either under Fe sufficiency or deficiency conditions, whereas almost no changes occurred in KA plants. UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MS\({}^{\text{n}}\) analysis was performed for further clarification of phytochemicals in _S. canosa_ plants with different treatments (C, C+SA, D, and D+SA). The corresponding UV-Vis and MS\({}^{\text{n}}\) spectral data of the detected peaks are summarized in \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline
**Varieties/Variables** & **C** & **C+SA** & **D** & **D+SA** \\ \hline Kalbia & & & & \\ MDA (L) & 3.12 \(\pm\) 0.76 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 1.69 \(\pm\) 0.40 \({}^{\text{D}}\) & 5.65 \(\pm\) 0.18 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 4.23 \(\pm\) 0.68 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ MDA(R) & 3.29 \(\pm\) 0.28 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 1.93 \(\pm\) 0.54 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 5.56 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.22 \(\pm\) 0.95 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ TPC & 7.19 \(\pm\) 0.13 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 6.93 \(\pm\) 0.22 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.49 \(\pm\) 0.29 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 2.71 \(\pm\) 0.19 \({}^{\text{C}}\) \\ TPC & 3.26 \(\pm\) 0.28 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.04 \(\pm\) 0.21 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 1.53 \(\pm\) 0.21 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 1.15 \(\pm\) 0.15 \({}^{\text{C}}\) \\ \hline Sidi Khif & & & & \\ MDA (L) & 4.19 \(\pm\) 0.17 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 3.26 \(\pm\) 0.20 \({}^{\text{D}}\) & 5.32 \(\pm\) 0.28 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 4.83 \(\pm\) 0.18 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ MDA (R) & 6.13 \(\pm\) 0.28 \({}^{\text{B}}\) & 2.74 \(\pm\) 0.18 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 7.30 \(\pm\) 0.05 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 3.38 \(\pm\) 0.79 \({}^{\text{C}}\) \\ TPC & 4.46 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 5.87 \(\pm\) 0.37 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 4.13 \(\pm\) 0.27 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 5.06 \(\pm\) 0.13 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ TPC & 2.51 \(\pm\) 0.28 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 4.41 \(\pm\) 0.12 \({}^{\text{A}}\) & 2.15 \(\pm\) 0.27 \({}^{\text{C}}\) & 3.38 \(\pm\) 0.15 \({}^{\text{B}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
\({}^{\text{C}}\) treatment (control: 50 \(\mu\)M Fe); D treatment (Deficient: 1 \(\mu\)M Fe); SA (Salicylic acid: 0.25 mM). L—leaves; R—roots. Data are means of 4 replicates \(\pm\) SE. Means in the same line followed by distinct letters are significantly different at \(p\leq\) 0.05.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Malonylaldehyde (MDA, \(\mu\)mol g/FW), Total phenolic compounds (TFC, mg GAE/g DW) and Total Flavonoids (TFC, mg CE/g DW) contents of _Sulla carnosa_ cv. Kalbia (KA) and Sidi Khif and (SK), primed with salicylic acid (SA) and grown under different Fe concentrations for 8 days. Table 4, of which twelve phenolic compounds were identified. The most representative was eluted in peak 16 at RT 12.1 min, exhibiting a \(\lambda_{\rm max}\) at 221 and 280 nm, and a [M-H]\({}^{-}\) at \(m/z\) 289, generating a base fragment ion at \(m/z\) 245 by the loss of 44 Da (equivalent to a CO\({}_{2}\)), that in turn fragmented to \(m/z\) 179 and 151 in MS\({}^{3}\) experiment, being thus assigned to epi-catechin as its described by [PERSON] et al. [31].