Anthocyanins affecting differential spathe colour expression in diverse genotypes of Anthurium andreanum Linden

Abstract

Anthurium (Anthurium andreanum Linden.) the semiterrestrial and perennial epiphytic plants with creeping arborescent stem is tropical plant of great beauty grown for its colourful long lasting flowers. Valuable part, the cordate blistered and glossy spathe is a modified leaf subtending the fleshy inflorescence bearing small sessile flowers. Spathe colour gives a sense of aesthetic pleasure to human beings. So there is a need for developing new and improved cultivars with different colour. The relative concentrations of anthocyanin and its influence on spathe colour in 50 morphologically diverse and taxonomically complex genotypes of anthurium showing variations in spathe colour, shape, size and other commercially valuable morphological characters were utilized for the study. The selected plants of the above 50 genotypes were raised in pot culture experiment in a completely randomised design with three replications. Spathes were harvested within two weeks of unfurling or when half of the spadix lengths had changed colour. Estimation of anthocyanin was done as per the method described by Rangana [1].