title: Effect of salt stress in the regulation of anthocyanins and color of hibiscus flowers by digital image analysis.
abstract: The effect of salt stress (200 mM NaCl for 28 days) on physiological characteristics of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, such as abscisic acid (ABA) content, electrolyte leakage, and photochemical efficiency in leaves, and its influence on biomass production, anthocyanin composition, and color expression of flowers were evaluated. Salinity significantly increased electrolyte leakage and ABA content in leaves and reduced the flower fresh weight. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were lower in salt stress condition, compared to control. Moreover, salt stress negatively affected the content of anthocyanins (mainly cyanidin-3-sophoroside), which resulted in a visually perceptible loss of color. The detailed anthocyanin composition monitored by HPLC-DAD-MS and the color variations by digital image analysis due to salt stress showed that the effect was more noticeable at the basal portion of petals. A forward stepwise multiple regression was performed for predicting the content of anthocyanins from appearance characteristics obtained by image analysis, reaching R-square values up to 0.90.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Landscape, Agronenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano , via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trivellini
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gordillo
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Pulido
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Borghesi
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vernieri
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Quijada-Morín
authors.forename: M Lourdes
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: González-Miret
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Heredia
mesh_terms: D000872:Anthocyanins / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry*; D031584:Hibiscus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D000872:Anthocyanins; D012965:Sodium Chloride