Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2012, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (9): 992-1003.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1258.2012.00992

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Correlation between quality of Pyrola decorata and its ecological factors based on hierarchy- vector analysis

LÜ Zhen-Jiang, WANG Dong-Mei, LI Deng-Wu*()   

  1. College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
  • Received:2012-02-03 Accepted:2012-05-12 Online:2012-02-03 Published:2012-09-06
  • Contact: LI Deng-Wu

Abstract:

Aims Plant secondary metabolites have played a significant role in drug discovery and development. Their production and accumulation are affected by environmental factors. Our objective was to determine the dominant ecological factors influencing functional components content of Pyrola decorata, the relationships among ecological factors, the contents of functional components and antioxidant activity.
Method The HPLC method was used to determine the contents of tannin, quercetin and hyperoside. Total flavoniods content was evaluated by NaNO2-Al(NO3)3 spectrophotometric determination. The antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH radical assay in vitro. The hierarchy-vector analysis was applied to determine relationships between the quality of P. decorata and ecological factors.
Important findings The contents of functional components as well as the antioxidant activity in different regions were significantly different. Tannin, quercetin and hyperoside as the key factors affecting the antioxidant activity showed negative correlation with the antioxidant ability; their correlation coefficients were -0.829, -0.378 and -0.749, respectively. There was a positive correlation between DPPHIC50 value and the total flavoniods content (p = 0.260). DPPHIC50 values decreased while the functional components contents increased, which indicated the enhancement of antioxidant activity. Nine ecological factors contributed significantly to the functional components contents: annual mean air temperature, January mean air temperature, annual accumulated air temperature, annual extreme high air temperature, frost-free period, soil total nitrogen, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and organic matter. The soil factors made greater contributions to the contents of the four effective components than did climatic factors, and they also had a large impact on the content of tannin and quercetin compared with hyperoside. Therefore, selecting a suitable habitat, especially appropriate soil, could effectively improve the quality of P. decorata.

Key words: ecological factor, hierarchy-vector analysis, Pyrola decorata