Breeding research on rose pigments. 1. The occurrence of flavonoids and carotenoids in rose petals

Abstract

As a preamble to a breeding programme for colour in roses, the relative quantities of carotenoids, eyanidin, pelargonidin, quercetin and kaempferol were determined in about 200 varieties and some species. Cyanidin was about normally distributed among red varieties, as were carotenoids and flavonols among white and yellow varieties. A positive relationship between pelargonidin and kaempferol was established, and a negative one between peiargonidin and quercetin. No other relations were found between the pigments.

Flower colour analyses in tulip (Tulipa L.). The occurrence of carotenoids and flavonoids in tulip tepals

“…With roses, too, it has been found that pelargonidin only occurs in cyanidin containing flowers (DE VRIES et al, 1974). This may indicate that there is a biochemical and genetical relationship between these three anthocyanidins, and that the synthesis of delphinidin and pelargonidin synthesis depends on the occurrence of cyanidin or its precursor.…”

“…For the preparation of the standard spots, material of the rose cultivar Baccara containing about equal quantities of cyanidin and pelargonidin (DE VRIES et al, 1974) was hydrolysed and extracted in the same way as described above, using 2 g of petals, 2 ml 2N HCI and 1.4 ml iaa. From the iaa solution a series of standard solutions was prepared by mixing the initial solution (Sa) with different quantities of iaa.…”

Possibilities of selection for keeping quality in tulip breeding

“…A cultivar such as Christmas Marvel (pink) already showed the first symptoms of discoloration 6.5 days after cutting, while tepals did not drop until after 10.2 days; tepals of 'Lustige Witwe' (red, edged white) and 'Apeldoorn' (red) started to discolour 1 to 2 days before perianth drop only ( Table 2). The question arises if the time of first visible discoloration is correlated with the chemical composition of the flower colour as determined by paper chromatography (DE VRIES et al, 1974) (Table 3). From Table 3 the impression is obtained that the discoloration starts later in flowers with much carotenoid, and also in those with much delphinidin and cyanidin in relation to pelargonidin, than in flowers with little caretenoid and relatively much pelargonidin.…”

Inheritance of Determinants of Flower Colour in Tetraploid Roses

“…De Vries et al (1974) showed that pelargonidin is always found together with cyanidin. In the K5 population pelargonidin-and cyanidin derivatives are the major pigments, together they represent 96.4% of all pigment ratings, the absorbance graphs of the K5 individuals are predominantly build from the combined absorbance graphs of cyanidin-based and pelargonidin-based pigments.…”