Flower color and carbohydrate metabolism changes during the floral development of Rosa damascena

Oil-bearing rose is extensively cultivated in Lakes Region of Tueurorkiye for its flowers to produce essential oil used in fragrance and cosmetics industries, but metabolic changes during flower development is not well understood. The present study was carried out to investigate sugar and color metabolism during the flower development of oil-bearing rose. While chlorophyll, carotenoid content and PAL activity was higher at stages I and II, their levels decreased significantly at later stages. However, anthocyanin and moisture content was lower at stages I and II, but higher at later (III to V) stages. Black and white (L*) value increased throughout the flower development, but redness (a*) and brightness (c*) values increased from stage I to II, then decreased. Glucose, sucrose, fructose, soluble sugars content increased at early stages, but decreased at later stages (IV and V), however reducing sugars content did not show any significant difference during the flower development. While total carbohydrate content increased, starch content decreased from stage Ito II. However, starch content continued to increase from stage III to V, total carbohydrate did not show any significant difference at later stages. Correlation analysis revealed that total anthocyanin and carotenoid content positively correlated with glucose, total soluble sugar and fructose content. PAL activity negatively correlated with total soluble sugars, fructose and anthocyanin content. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that significant changes occurred for flower color and carbohydrate metabolism at stage II and III of flower development, with the exception of starch and PAL activity. These results show that the significant changes in color development and carbohydrate metabolism occur during the flower development and PAL activity and color development is influenced by sugars in oil-bearing rose. (c) 2023 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.