Industrial Chicory and Its Specialized Metabolites: Diversification of Uses and Varietal Selection

Cichorium intybus L., commonly known as chicory, is a plant that is recognized for its health benefits and is widely used around the world. Well-known for its use as a drink and its richness in inulin, chicory is mainly cultivated for this purpose in the north of France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. It is the root that is employed for this use and which contains, in particular, inulin, oligofructose, as well as specialized metabolites such as hydroxycinnamic acids and sesquiterpene lactones. All of these molecules are largely responsible for the benefits of chicory. The plant improvement of this species over the years of cultivation has required the development of biotechnological tools, such as in vitro culture, somatic embryogenesis, protoplast fusion, or even more recently gene editing by CRISPR/Cas9. The objectives are to continually improve cultivated varieties, in particular to increase inulin content, antioxidant capacity, or even reduce acrylamide content, and also to improve agronomic characteristics such as resistance to herbicides or cytoplasmic male sterility. It is thanks to very close collaborations between the University of Lille, the Florimond Desprez, and Leroux companies, in the north of France, which have lasted for many years, that high-performance varieties have been generated which meet the needs of breeders, farmers, and consumers.