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E u r o S c i C o n J o i n t E v e n t s o n
Plant Science, Tissue Engineering
and Parasitology
December 03-04 , 2018
Amsterdam, Nether l ands
International Journal of Applied Science - Research and Review
ISSN: 2394-9988
Plant Science | Tissue Engineering | Parasitology 2018
F
lower crops are considered as rich source of various nutraceutical compounds that are being commercially exploitedworldwide.
These bioactive compounds play a significant role in plant as well as human health. Polyphenols, flavonols, pigments etc.
are the important bioactive compounds that are found in most of the plant species. Among them, plant pigments holds the
prime position as they serve many functions in plants such as they provide protection from temperature, UV radiation, low water
potential etc. Moreover, these pigments also possess antioxidant properties. Nowadays, synthetic pigments dominate the market
world over, however due to increase awareness among people about the ill effects of these synthetic pigments on human health
and environment, focus is oriented towards maximum utilization of natural products as they are extracted from natural sources,
which are pure and safe for human use and more importantly ecofriendly in nature. Plant pigments are classified into four major
classes viz. anthocyanins, carotenoids, betalains and chlorophylls. Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments which are responsible
for imparting red, purple, pink and blue colouration to the plants. In flower, rose petals are rich source of anthocyanins and wide
diversity of anthocyanins is found in roses. Petunia is another ornamental crop rich in anthocyanin pigments. Carotenoids are fat
soluble pigments which imparts yellow, orange and red colours in plants and animals. Marigold is also one of the richest source of
carotenoids especially lutein which possess antioxidant activities andmoreover intake of lutein helps in curing age relatedmacular
diseases. Carotenoids also find its commercial applications in food colouring industries. Another group of pigments, betalains
which is sub divided into two sub-groups, betacyanin responsible for red-violet colouration and betaxanthin imparts yellow to
orange pigments. Bougainvillea is also one of rich source of betalains and floral bracts are the economic part. The Division of
Floriculture and Landscaping, ICAR-IARI has initiated research work on characterization of major pigments i.e. anthocyanins in
rose, petunia and chrysanthemum; carotenoids in marigold and chrysanthemum and betalains in bougainvillea. The estimation of
antioxidant properties in these crops has also been done. Standardization of the drying methods for higher retention of pigments
has been done in marigold and bougainvillea. Moreover, histological studies of rose genotypes have been done.
sapna.panwar8@gmail.comFlower crops: a potential source of
nutraceutical compounds
Sapna Panwar, Namita and S S Sindhu
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India
Int J Appl Sci Res Rev 2018, Volume: 5
DOI: 10.21767/2394-9988-C2-006