Dahlia Flowers Research Articles

Effect of water supply material volume and leaf area during transportation on the quality of cut dahlia flowers

Effect of water supply material volume and leaf area during transportation on the quality of cut dahlia flowers

Phytochemical Analysis of Anthocyanins Extracted from the Flowers of Two Dahlia Cultivars and their Cytotoxic Properties

Dahlia Cav. is a genus of ornamental plants that belongs to the Asteraceae family. These plants are visually pleasing and contain biologically active substances such as flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids, organic acids, and inulin. Among these substances, anthocyanins are especially noteworthy. These water-soluble vacuolar pigments of a glycoside nature have significant health benefits, including antioxidant, antidiabetic, hypocholesterolemic, anticancer, cardioprotective, and hypotensive properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content of anthocyanins by spectrophotometry and the composition by HPLC in the extracts from flowers of two varieties of dahlias ('La Baron' and 'Colorado Classic') grown in Ukraine, as well as to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of these extracts. According to HPLC analysis, among 18 revealed anthocyanins the fower of ‘La Baron’ cultivar had the highest concentration of cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside (31.85%) and cyanidin-3-O-galactoside (23.01%) while ‘Colorado Classic’ accumulated more delphinidin-3-O-arabinoside (39.80%) and Delphinidin-3-O-galactoside (23.15%). Our study also found that malvidin, peonidin, and petunidin played a minor role in the coloration of the flowers. The total amount of anthocyanins was slightly higher in the flowers of the ‘La Baron’ cultivar (1.250%) compared to the ‘Colorado Classic’ one (1.138%). To determine the toxicity of anthocyanins, it was used an in vitro model of bone marrow cells (BMC) and found that the cytoprotective and cytotoxic activities of the anthocyanins were dose-dependent. Based on these findings, the study concluded that there is potential for developing new herbal medicinal products using dahlia flowers with a significant content of anthocyanins.

KEANEKARAGAMAN JENIS TANAMAN BUNGA DI PEKARANGAN DESA MANDIKAPAU BARAT KABUPATEN BANJAR

Plant diversity indicates the existence of various variations in shape, color, body structure, and the amount contained in an area or ecosystem. The purpose of this study was to describe the types and number of index values for the diversity of types of flower plant in the yards of the residents of Mandikapau Barat Village. The method of this research was to determine the location by means of a survey, determine the area of the yard, take samples by purposive sampling technique, identify the types of flower plant using plant morphology book, and conduct data analysis by calculating the importance value index, species diversity index, dominance index, and abundance index. type. The results of this study found that there were 60 types of flower plant with an average abundance of 1087 ind/m² and 34 famili; RT 1 (26 species with an average abundance of 317 ind/m² and 20 famili); in RT 2 (26 species with an average abundance of 318 ind/m² and 22 famili); and in RT 3 (49 species with an average abundance of 452 ind/m² and 30 famili). The types of flower plant that were mostly found in RT 1 were dahlia flowers (Zinnia elegans L.) 16.72%; in RT 2, namely dahlia flowers (Zinnia elegans L.) 21.70%; and in RT 3, namely linjuang (Cordyline fruticosa L.) 14.38%. Plant in the tree ornamental plant category were 1.7%, leaf ornamental plant were 13.3%, and flower ornamental plant were 85%. The overall value of the diversity index of flower plant is 2.71, which is in the medium category. The overall value of the domination index of 0.1 for flowering plant is in the low category. The overall value of the abundance index of types of flower plant is 0.78, belonging to the high category. The overall value of the important value index of 0.67% for flowering plant is classified in the high category.

Senescence in dahlia flowers is regulated by a complex interplay between flower age and floret position.

Mechanisms regulating flower senescence are not fully understood in any species and are particularly complex in composite flowers. Dahlia (Dahlia pinnata Cav.) florets develop sequentially, hence each composite flower head includes florets of different developmental stages as the whole flower head ages. Moreover, the wide range of available cultivars enables assessment of intraspecific variation. Transcriptomes were compared amongst inner (younger) and outer (older) florets of two flower head ages to assess the effect of floret vs. flower head ageing. More gene expression, including ethylene and cytokinin pathway expression changed between inner and outer florets of older flower heads than between inner florets of younger and older flower heads. Additionally, based on Arabidopsis network analysis, different patterns of co-expressed ethylene response genes were elicited. This suggests that changes occur in young inner florets as the whole flower head ages that are different to ageing florets within a flower head. In some species floral senescence is orchestrated by the plant growth regulator ethylene. However, there is both inter and intra-species variation in its importance. There is a lack of conclusive data regarding ethylene sensitivity in dahlia. Speed of senescence progression, effects of ethylene signalling perturbation, and patterns of ethylene biosynthesis gene expression differed across three dahlia cultivars ('Sylvia', 'Karma Prospero' and 'Onesta') suggesting differences in the role of ethylene in their floral senescence, while effects of exogenous cytokinin were less cultivar-specific.

Dano e temperatura letal devido ao estresse por calor em dália cultivada a campo

Abstract Dahlia is an ornamental plant well adapted to open field cultivation and is one of the crops in the “Flowers for All” Project, a nation-wide extension project. High temperatures and the duration of extreme heat waves are expected to be more frequent in the next decades. Therefore, understanding and determining the high temperature that causes irreversible damage in Dahlia flowers is of high interest for preparing farmers to mitigate and adapt their crop to climate change. The objective of this study was to determine the upper lethal temperature that causes irreversible damage on buds and flowers on open field grown dahlia. Commercial open field dahlia crops in five locations in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State, Southern Brazil, during two growing seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23) were used in this study. During the period from 20 December 2021 to 30 January 2022 and from 14 January 2023 to 20 January 2023, daily observations were made in the dahlias in the five locations in order to identify symptoms of heat stress on leaves, buds and flowers such as leaf rolling, wilting, dry leaf edges, sunscald, burning and rotting. The appearance of those symptoms was correlated with maximum daily air temperature in order to estimate the lethal temperature. Irreversible heat injury in buds and flowers of open field grown dahlia start when air temperature reaches 35 oC. Artificial shading, irrigation and planting date are management practices that can help farmers to protect dahlia flowers from heat stress.

Breeding Long Vase Life by Crossing and Selection for Five Generations in Dahlia (<i>Dahlia variabilis</i>) Cut Flowers, and Selection of Fourth-Generation Line 003-15 with Ultra-Long Vase Life

Genetic improvement of flower vase life is an important breeding target for ornamental plants. As the vase life of cut dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) flowers is very short, we initiated a conventional crossbreeding research program in 2014 to improve it. We evaluated the vase life of dahlia seedlings during summer (from July to early September) to develop dahlias that grow and bloom under high temperatures and have excellent vase life for Japanese summer conditions. Crossing and selection over five generations greatly improved vase life. The mean vase life increased from 4.4 days in the 1st generation, derived from 22 parental cultivars, to 8.0 days in the 5th generation, a net increase of 3.6 days. Mean vase life increased significantly by 1.6 days from the 4th to the 5th generation, indicating continued improvement. The mean vase life of the 12 lines selected from the 3rd and 4th generations ranged between 6.0 and 15.9 days in distilled water and from 7.8 to 14.6 days in GLA solution (10 g·L−1 glucose, 0.5 mL·L−1 CMIT/MIT [isothiazolinone derivatives], and 50 mg·L−1 aluminum sulfate). Vase life was further extended by 0.5 to 4.0 days using 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) sprays compared to GLA alone. In particular, the 4th-generation line 003-15 vase life was 13.8 to 15.9 days (2.5× that of ‘Kamakura’, a leading white dahlia cultivar in Japan) in distilled water, 12.0 to 14.6 days (1.8× to 2.2×) in GLA, and 13.9 to 15.3 days (1.7× to 1.9×) in GLA+BA in winter and spring. Cut flowers of line 003-15 harvested under high temperatures in July–August and at 28°C with GLA treatment also had long vase life. The pedigree of line 003-15 suggests that genes related to long vase life derived from ‘Micchan’ (with a long vase life) may have accumulated or duplicated in line 003-15. Finally, four selected lines, including 003-15, had high ethylene sensitivity, as 10 μL·L−1 ethylene treatment caused petal abscission in 2.0 to 2.8 days.

Characterization of Petal Senescent Types in Cut Dahlia and Extension of Their Vase Life by Treatment with Silver Thiosulfate Complex Followed by Glucose Plus Germicides

The vase life of cut dahlia (Dahlia × hortensis Guillaumin) flowers is generally short. Petal senescence is known to be divided into petal wilting, withering, and abscission. Petals with ongoing wilting were isolated from the inflorescence and supplied with water using 10 cultivars to clarify the type of petal senescence of dahlia. Based on the recovery of fresh weight and appearance of petals, senescent types could be categorized into three types: petal senescence in two, six, and two cultivars were categorized into abscission, abscission with withering, and wilting types, respectively. The pulse treatment with silver thiosulfate complex (STS) significantly extended the vase life of 7 out of 10 cultivars. Moreover, pulse treatment with STS followed by continuous treatment with GLA, which was comprised of glucose, isothiazolinone germicide, and aluminum sulfate, increased the relative fresh weight of the five dahlia cultivars more than pulse treatment with STS. Therefore, this combined treatment is available to extend the vase life of cut dahlia, irrespective of the senescent types.

A novel aldo-keto reductase gene is involved in 6'-deoxychalcone biosynthesis in dahlia (Dahlia variabilis).

A novel gene belonging to the aldo-keto reductase 13 family is involved in isoliquiritigenin biosynthesis in dahlia. The yellow pigments of dahlia flowers are derived from 6'-deoxychalcones, which are synthesized via a two-step process, involving the conversion of 3-malonyl-CoA and 4-coumaloyl-CoA into isoliquiritigenin in the first step, and the subsequent generation of butein from isoliquiritigenin. The first step reaction is catalyzed by chalcone synthase (CHS) and aldo-keto reductase (AKR). AKR has been implicated in the isoflavone biosynthesis in legumes, however, isolation of butein biosynthesis related AKR members are yet to be reported. A comparative RNA-seq analysis between two dahlia cultivars, 'Shukuhai' and its butein-deficient lateral mutant 'Rinka', was used in this study to identify a novel AKR gene involved in 6'-deoxychalcone biosynthesis. DvAKR1 encoded a AKR 13 sub-family protein with significant differential expression levels, and was phylogenetically distinct from the chalcone reductases, which belongs to the AKR 4A sub-family in legumes. DNA sequence variation and expression profiles of DvAKR1 gene were correlated with 6'-deoxychalcone accumulation in the tested dahlia cultivars. A single over-expression analysis of DvAKR1 was not sufficient to initiate the accumulation of isoliquiritigenin in tobacco, in contrast, its co-overexpression with a chalcone 4'-O-glucosyltransferase (Am4'CGT) from Antirrhinum majus and a MYB transcription factor, CaMYBA from Capsicum annuum successfully induced isoliquiritigenin accumulation. In addition, DvAKR1 homologous gene expression was detected in Coreopsideae species accumulating 6'-deoxychalcone, but not in Asteraceae species lacking 6'-deoxychalcone production. These results not only demonstrate the involvement of DvAKR1 in the biosynthesis of 6'-deoxychalcone in dahlia, but also show that 6'-deoxychalcone occurrence in Coreopsideae species developed evolutionarily independent from legume species.

Compostos nutricionais e funcionais em flores e raízes de dália

Abstract The use of unconventional edible plants in human food has grown more widespread in recent years, driven mainly by gourmet dishes. Evidence of the food properties of these species is still scarce. Aiming to obtain more in-depth knowledge of dahlia plants, this study aimed to evaluate the nutritional, bioactive, and antinutritional properties of the edible parts of purple dahlia (tuberous root and flower) to elucidate their value and safety as foods. The percent composition, caloric value, pH, Total Soluble Solids (TSS), Total Titratable Acidity (TTA), ratio of TSS to TTA, anthocyanins, carotenoids, vitamin C, total phenolics, tannins, nitrates, and minerals of the roots and flowers were analyzed. The inulin content in the root and the color of the flower were also evaluated. The results were reported as mean and standard deviation, and exploratory factor analysis was performed. Both parts of the dahlia had constituents that contribute to a good diet at concentrations like those in conventional vegetables, whereas the antinutritional components were also compatible with those of commonly consumed foods, with acceptable dietary values. Thus, it is evident that purple dahlia flowers and roots have potential for use in human food and can be considered good options to improve and diversify a healthy diet.

The effect of some solutions on the vase life of star flowers

Abstract This study was carried out on the flowers of 'Le Castel' Dahlia (starflower) cultivated in Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Agricultural Research and Application Center in 2019. The study aimed to prolong the vase life of Dahlia flowers used as cut flowers. Deionized water (control), sucrose + deionized water, thyme oil, lavender oil, carvacrol, thymol, sodium hypochlorite, and gibberellic acid were used as vase solutions. The total vase solution uptake (g/stem), daily vase solution uptake (g/day fresh weight (FW)), proportional FW (%) and vase life (day) parameters were determined based on Dahlia flowers that harvested at different harvest stages (3, 4 and 5 layers). As a result; the most extended vase life was measured in the gibberellic acid treatment (8.22 days), the highest proportional fresh weight was measured in the carvacrol in the 6th day (139.78%), the highest daily solution uptake was measured in the thyme oil in 0-2 days (11.7 g/day FW) and the highest total solution uptake was measured in the thyme oil (27.5 g/stem). It was concluded that the vase life of earlier harvested flowers was longer than of late harvested.

Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Extracts from Five Edible Flowers Used in Culinary

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the natural pigments (chlorophylls, carotenoids and anthocyanins), phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of water and 95% ethanol extracts from five edible flowers - snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), carnation (Dianthus plumarius), garden geranium (Pelargonium hortorum), petunia (Petunia integrifolia) and dahlia (Dahlia decorative). It was found that water extracts gave higher extractive yields. The highest carotenoids and total anthocyanins content were detected in snapdragon and dahlia flowers. The total phenolic content dominated in water extracts of petunia, garden geranium, carnation and snapdragon - above 30 mg GAE/g of dry extract. Sinapic acid was detected in all edible flowers. Gallic, caffeic, chlorogenic, p-coumaric, rosmarinic, sinapic and ferulic acid were detected only in carnation. Antioxidant activity was the highest in ethanol extracts of petunia, garden geranium, carnation by FRAP method. The current study demonstrated the future application of edible flower extracts as a source of antioxidants for culinary purposes.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DAHLIA CAV. VARIETIES RESEARCHED UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE EXPOSITION AREA OF VINNYTSIA NATIONAL AGRARIAN UNIVERSITY

The results of studies on the use of decorative ornamental plants of flower and ornamental plants Dahlia Cav. in Vinnytsia Region at their level of adaptation to growing conditions have been presented. The assessment of the collection of the genus Dahlia Cav. at the exposition site of the Vinnitsa National Agrarian University, it has been determined that the collection is dominated by varieties of individual garden groups such as cactus, nymphae and decorative. In order to expand and replenish the collection of the genus Dahlia Cav the exhibition area VNAU conducted a selection of varieties that are representative of a set of indicators such as plant height, shape and size of inflorescences among the dahlia assortment. Dahlias are easy to grow and bring life to your garden with their intense color, strength, and ability to keep flowering until the first frosts. Dahlias like well-balanced and composted soil, and full sun. With 42 different species and thousands of cultivars, dahlias offer plenty of variety. Variations in color, flower form, size, and foliage make it easy to find one you'll love. The rich variety of their flower colors shapes and sizes added to their extensive blooming season, have turned dahlias into popular addition to our landscapes. There are thousands of varieties of dahlias and they are all classified by the shape, size and color of their flowers. Flowers can be very small in diameter. They offer an impressive range of colors such as pink, purple, red, scarlet, orange, yellow, white and can be stripped or tipped with another color. They can be single-flowering (orchid-flowering, anemone and collarettes) or double flowering (cactus, semi-cactus, formal or informal decorative dahlias, ball and pompons). Dahlias have wide height range. There are many different ways to use dahlias in the garden. Shorter dahlias mix well with annuals or shorter perennials, while taller varieties will grow well with perennials and ornamental grasses toward the rear or center of borders. Their lower stems tend to be unattractive and the plants are heavy (especially the large flowered dinnerplate types); so without staking, they tend to flop. Plant the smallest varieties in containers. Dahlia flowers are brightly colored. They can also look surprisingly good with grasses, as the contrast is total-big bright flowers against finely textured grasses. Good cutting dahlias tend to be the larger varieties because of their longer stems. Key words: dahlias, collection, garden group, flowering, container culture.

Difference of ethylene production and response to ethylene in cut flowers of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) cultivars

Cut dahlia flowers have a short vase life of 3–7 days, and some cultivars exhibit petal abscission, even inside of cardboard boxes during transport. This petal abscission is induced by ethylene in many cases. In the present study, we investigated the role of ethylene in dahlia flower senescence by comparing the responses to ethylene, ethylene inhibitors, and ethylene production among cultivars. Exogenous ethylene significantly accelerated petal abscission in seven cultivars and petal wilting in other five cultivars out of 12 cultivars. Whole florets and detached receptacles (with bracts) produced different amounts of ethylene; ethylene production was higher in ‘Carnelian’ and ‘Port Light Pair Beauty’ than ‘Heavenly Peace’ and ‘Purple Stone’. Onset of senescence was delayed in detached petals compared with attached petals, suggesting that petal abscission was induced by ethylene produced by ovary and receptacles. The ethylene action inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene inhibited petal abscission and delayed petal wilting in eight cultivars. Moreover, the silver thiosulfate complex delayed petal wilting of ‘Carnelian’. Together, our findings suggested that ethylene plays a role in senescence of cut dahlia flowers and ethylene inhibitors can extend their vase life.

Acid invertase activities of dahlia ‘Kokucho’ petals during flower opening and following cutting and treatment with 6-benzylaminopurine

Extending the vase life of cut dahlia ‘Kokucho’ flowers through enhanced activities of acid invertases (cell wall, CWIN and vacuolar, VIN) on flower opening and senescence after harvest was investigated. The activities of CWIN and VIN were very low in the outer petals at the tight bud stage (stage 1), increased markedly at the half-open stage (stage 2), and decreased at the fully open stage (stage 3) to levels lower than at stage 2. Glucose and fructose concentrations were very low at stage 1, markedly increased at stage 2, and further increased at stage 3. These results suggest that acid invertase activities play a very important role in increasing soluble sugars of petals during flower opening. Following harvest at stage 3, florets or cut flowers were treated with 50 μmol L−1 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) by dipping or spraying, respectively. These treatments extended vase life longer than in the controls. In the florets experiment, CWIN and VIN activities were significantly higher with a BA dip than in the control for petals at 3 and 6 d, but there were no significant differences in sugar concentrations between the control and BA dip groups. In cut flowers at 3 d after cutting, VIN activity and glucose concentration were higher in the outer petals treated with BA spray than in control petals. From these results, application of exogenous cytokinin has some effect of maintaining high acid invertase activity, and high invertase activity itself may be important for delaying senescence in cut dahlia flowers. BA application is useful for extending petal longevity and is expected to be a popular post-harvest treatment in cut dahlia flowers.

Detección e identificación molecular de Pantoea vagans en flores de Dahlia sp.

Las Dalias (Dahlia spp.) son flores nativas de Mesoamérica y endémicas de México. Su consumo como alimento es una práctica antigua, en la actualidad es escasa la información y reglamentación sanitaria para su comercialización y consumo. Al respecto, el objetivo del presente estudio fue identificar morfológica, bioquímica y molecularmente, bacterias de origen entérico asociadas con flores de Dalia. Los resultados de la caracterización morfológica revelaron la predominancia de bacilos cortos Gram negativos. A partir de la observación de la morfología colonial en medios de cultivo selectivos y diferenciales se identificaron como Escherichia coli y Salmonella spp. Sin embargo, el uso de un método comercial automatizado los clasifica como Enterobacter cancerogenus. Debido a que ambas pruebas arrojaron resultados distintos en cuanto a la identidad del microorganismo aislado, no fueron concluyentes. Por lo tanto, se recurrió a la caracterización molecular para la identificación del aislado bacteriano. La bacteria predominante en flores de Dalia, correspondió a Pantoea vagans (Número de acceso CP002206). Éste es el primer reporte de Pantoea vagans aislada de flores de Dalia.

Pyrolysis kinetic behavior and Py-GC–MS analysis of waste dahlia flowers into renewable fuel and value-added chemicals

To explore the bioenergy potential, kinetic and pyrolysis behavior of waste dahlia flowers (DF), model-free methods and Py-GC–MS were used. Kinetic characteristics of DF biomass were estimated by adopting four model-free methods, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW), Friedman, and Distributed Activation Energy (DAEM). Further, functional groups, the presence of mineral matter in DF biomass, and mineral compounds present in the inorganic residue were analyzed using FTIR, EDX, and XRF. Physicochemical analysis results confirmed its bioenergy potential for conversion into renewable fuel and valuable chemicals. The kinetic results of DF biomass showed that activation energy varied with conversion value, and the thermodynamic analysis indicated multiple step pyrolysis. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin in biomass. EDX and XRF analysis also revealed the presence of various useful mineral matter, which had a positive effect during pyrolysis. Py-GC–MS results confirmed that at a lower temperature (500 °C), the formation of ester, nitrogen containing compounds and acid were higher, while at higher temperatures (550 °C and 600 °C), the formation of oxygenated compounds were reduced and the production of hydrocarbons and alcohols increased.

Improvement Yield and Quality of Dahlia Flowers by Exogenous Application of Gibberellic Acid and Salicylic Acid under Sandy soil Conditions

Dahlia is one of the popular cut flowers in the world which characterized by the rich variety and attractive flower colors. Hence, in a field study 100, 200, 300mgL−1 gibberellic acid (GA3) and salicylic acid (SA) were used during two successive seasons 2015 and 2016 to determine the possible role of each growth regulator in improving marketable quality, increasing yield and vase life of dahlia. Results indicated that the tallest plants (118.43cm) were those sprayed with GA3 at 200mgL-1. Additionally, it showed that foliar application of GA3 or SA at 200mgL−1 significantly increased the number of branches plant-1, fresh and dry weight plant-1, leaf numbers, leaf area plant-1, flower numbers, flower quality and vase life as well as tuber length, and numbers plant-1. The most rapid flowering (39.57 days after planting) occurred when plants were sprayed with GA3 at 200mgL1. Concomitant to the enhancement in the vegetable and flowering attributes, an increscent in the anthocyanin content and total soluble solids was observed in the petals by increasing GA3 and SA concentrations up to 200mgL−1. Additionally, a significant increment in the total chlorophyll content was recorded with GA3 and SA treatments. In conclusion, the vegetative and flowering characters of dahlia could be improved by application of either GA3 or SA.

Effect of Potassium Sulfate and Calcium Borate on Improving Quality and Production of Dahlia Flowers

The experiment was carried out at the Baramoon Experimental Research Farm, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt, during 2015 and 2016 seasons. The aim of this research was to study the effect of potassium sulfate and calcium borate as soil and foliar fertilization on improving the quality and flower production of Dahlia pinnata, L. plants. Different levels of potassium sulfate at 10 and 20 g/plant as soil fertilizer and calcium borate at 5 and 10 cm/L as foliar fertilizer and companions between them were used. The soil and foliar fertilizers were applied 3 times during the growing period. The results indicated that the combined treatment of 20 g/plant potassium sulfate + 10 cm/L calcium borate significantly increased vegetative growth parameters i.e plant height, number of leaves, number of shoots, stem diameter and dry weight % of plants. It also induced an increment in flowers and tubers parameters (No. of flowers, flower diameter, flower stem length and diameter and flower adherence strength, vase life, No. of tubers/plant and tuber diameter compared with the other treatments used. Total carbohydrates and lignin (%) in flower stem were significantly increased as a result of different fertilization treatments compared to the control treatment. Application of potassium sulfate at 20 g/plant + calcium borate at 10 cm/L was superior to other treatments under this study.

糖質と抗菌剤の後処理によるダリア切り花の品質保持期間延長

糖質と抗菌剤の後処理によるダリア切り花の品質保持期間延長

ACTIVIDAD ANTIOXIDANTE, COMPOSICIÓN NUTRIMENTAL Y FUNCIONAL DE FLORES COMESTIBLES DE DALIA

In Mexico, Dahlia flowers are commonly consumed in different type of dishes; however, there are no reports on characteristics as a functional food. Proximate composition, minerals, vitamin C, phenolic compounds, total anthocyanins, carotenoids and antioxidant activity of dahlia flowers were studied. In general, the highest values for the content of phenolic compounds, anthocyanins and antioxidant capacity were found in the purple dahlia (127.5 mg AG∙g-1, 257.5 mg pelargonidin∙100 g-1 and 24 % of inhibition respectively). The type and concentration of phenolic compounds varied according to the color of the flower. The highest phenolic compound value was for hesperidin (398.9 mg∙g-1), while the most detected phenolic compounds in the flowers were gallic and caffeic acids. Based on these results, we can recommend the consumption of dahlia flowers as functional food because it provides phenolic compounds (specially the dark-colored dahlia flowers, since they had the highest phenolic composition and antioxidant activity).