**5. Concluding remarks**

Plant secondary metabolites play key role in the plants' protection and communication processes. Beyond that, these components, and particularly, mono and sesquiterpenic compounds, are nowadays explored in industrial sectors due to their pleasant aroma characteristics and potential on the prevention and management of human diseases. The exploitation of *S. nigra* L. plant has gained increasing attention in the last decade. Literature highlights that this plant has been used, both, for the formulation of food products and in folk medicine. More recently, herbal supplements and nutraceuticals are also available. Given the diversity of biological activities reported for mono and sesquiterpenic components, as hepatoprotection [12], anti-inflammatory [13], analgesic [14], and antioxidant [15], among others [16], it allows to infer strong potential to foster its economic value. Actually, to go further in that direction, several challenges have to be overcome, namely (1) to indepth know the mono and sesquiterpenic composition, (2) to study the impact of preharvest factors, and (3) to select the appropriate postharvest procedures to preserve bioactive molecules, as elderflower and elderberries seasonality requires handling and storage steps. Quality of crops, specifically elderberries and elderflowers, is a complex concept which could be defined by the yield efficiency, the organoleptic and the nutritional quality [46]. If, for several years, the agronomic and organoleptic qualities were the main market drivers, nowadays, the importance of the nutritional value is strongly increasing, thanks to increased consumer awareness on the dietary health effects of plant consumption [46]. It is for this reason that understanding how *S. nigra* mono and sesquiterpenic metabolites respond to exposures of different biotic and abiotic stresses is of major importance. Understanding and managing the effects of preharvest and postharvest factors are critical for further economical exploitation of these natural products, namely to (1) provide the growers of robust decision-making tools, (2) fulfill the current standardization requirements for production of plant-based extracts and products, and (3) contribute to assure the high-quality *S. nigra*based products.
