The study of photosynthesis pigments of canna hybrida herb of some varieties

Plants of Cannaceae family is a popular decorative and leafy plant with bright flowers and large leaves. According to the literature they contain amino acids, free carboxylic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, terpene and steroid compounds, cardioglycosides and alkaloids. They exhibit a wide range of biological activity, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, hemostatic, antihypertensive and anti-ischemic activity. The aim of the research was to study the qualitative composition and to determine the quantitative content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in herb of the Canna hybrida Suevia, Liberty, Livadia, Artek and Dark Night varieties. Materials and methods. The qualitative composition of photosynthetic pigments of herb of the Canna hybrida varieties Suevia, Liberty, Livadia, Artek and Dark Night differed not significantly by thin-layer chromatography method. In the analyzed objects the content of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids and lycopene was determined by absorption spectrophotometry method. Results. At least 10 compounds appeared on the chromatograms of the studied samples, at least 4 of which were attributed to carotenoids and not less than 6 – to chlorophylls. It was established that the content of the total of chlorophylls in herb of the Canna hybrida Liberty, Artek, and Dark Night varieties exceeded the content of the carotenoids by approximately 5 times, in herb of the Canna hybrida Suevia and Livadia variety – almost 8 times. Approximately 65 % of the total content of chlorophyll was chlorophyll a, 35 % was chlorophyll b, which was characteristic of herb of the Canna hybrida Suevia, Liberty, Artek and Dark Night varieties. In herb of the Canna hybrida Livadia variety a fundamentally opposite situation was observed. The total content of chlorophyll b was in 2.3 times higher than the content of chlorophyll a. The highest content of chlorophyll a (1661.76 ± 41.54 mg/kg), chlorophyll b (943.79 ± 23.60 mg/kg) and lycopene (62.37 ± 1.56 mg/kg) was observe in herb of the Canna hybrida Suevia variety. The equally high content of carotenoids – 373.75 ± 9.34 mg/kg, 381.84 ± 9.55 mg/kg and 386.05 ± 9.65 mg/kg, was watched in herb of Canna hybrida Suyeviya, Liberty and Artek varieties respectively. Conclusions. The obtained results will be used in the development of quality control methods for herb of Canna hybrida and medicinal plant products on their basis.