International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No. 4, 26-32
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counterpart FRAP was highest (2.07 µmol /g) in poppy as well as in Vinca pink and least (0.22) in wild salvia.
The total phenolic content (TPC) was found to be highest in African Marigold cv.Pusa Narangi (2282.54 µg
GAE/gfw). Kaisoon et al. (2011) also reported high antioxidant activities from the edible flowers from Thailand.
Similarly Rop et al. (2012) consider edible flower to be a new and promising food stuff species for a wider user in
human nutrition, due to high antioxidant capacity.
From Table 2, a positive significant correlation was found among the phenol content and the antioxidant capacity
viz. CUPRAC (0.262= r) and FRRAP (0.027= r). Similar results were reported by Zeng et al. (2014) who reported
a statistically significant relationship between polyphenolic content and the antioxidant capacity of 19 Chinese
edible flowers. Also previous reports that phenolic compound were major antioxidant constituents in medicinal
herbs, vegetables, fruits and spices gave similar results (Cai et al., 2004; Huang et al., 2010). Caroteniods, which
have a polyisoprenoid structure, are generally found in plants, algae, photosynthetic bacteria, yeast and moulds.
They plays an important role in human nutrition, by acting as a precursor of vitamin A. lycopene and β- carotene
are among the caroteniods, popular to consumers. β- Carotene belongs to their carotene class, which is one of the
most abundantly found in diet and is used as food colourant.
Table
2 Pearson correlation coefficients among different quality traits measured in 14 edible flower crops
Traits
CUPRAC
FRAP
Phenols
Lycopene
Total carotenoids
β-Carotene
CUPRAC
1.000
0.538
*
0.262
0.271
0.003
-0.230
FRAP
1.000
0.027
0.509
0.391
-0.309
Phenols
1.000
-0.269
-0.381
-0.130
Lycopene
1.000
0.921
**
0.304
Carotenoids
1.000
0.519
β-Carotene
1.000
Note: *Significant at p <0.05;
**
Significant at p <0.01
The proposed method was applied for the analysis of total caroteniods, Lycopene and β- carotene content from
different edible flowers. The amount of total caroteniods varied from 3.24 µg/100g in Morning Glory to 66.64
µg/100g in Calendula Orange. Similarly the Lycopene content was found as low as 0.55 mg/100g in Gomphrina
up to 41.94 mg/100g in Calendula Orange whereas Coreopsis had highest amount of β- carotene content (10.97
µg/100g) while Vinca Pink contained least(4.09 µg/100g).
In the correlation study among the caroteniods, a highly statistically significant correlation was found between
Lycopene and total caroteniods. A similar correlation was found amongβ- carotene and total caroteniods. A
negative correlation was found between phenols and three carotenes. β- Carotene was found to have negative
correlation with the three antioxidant factors (CUPRAC, FRAP and Phenols) while lycopene and total caroteniods
showed a positive correlation with CUPRAC and FRAP. Prakash et al. (2015) in their study also found out
Lycopene, β- carotene and Total caroteniods having Positive Association with each other. Kaulmann et al. (2014)
also reported positive correlation between FRAP and phenols.
Grouping of Genotypes into various clusters
A hierarchical cluster analysis has been shown in the dendrogram constructed in Figure 1. The variations observed
in the cluster means also points out to the degree of variability and divided the 14 species into two major groups A
and B. Group A was further divided into two subgroups viz. A1 and A2. The subgroup A1 comprised of three
species i.e. 1, 8 and 2, while subgroup A2 accommodated seven species i.e. 3, 10, 13, 4, 11, 12 and 7. In the
meanwhile, group B was subdivided into subgroups B1 and B2 which comprised of 2 species each viz. 5 and 9 &
6 and 4 respectively.
In the present study two species of group A2 viz. 11 and 12 were found to be genetically most similar in regards
to the six quality traits considered. These are the closest substitute present to each other in the nutrient
composition present in them.
