Variation in morphological, biochemical and antioxidant properties of Lilium polyphyllum

Lilium polyphyllum D.Don ex Royle belonging to family Liliaceae is a medicinal plant distributed in temperate to high altitude regions of Himalaya. Its bulbs have been used for anti-aging and vitality properties in >30 formulations of Ayurveda. Therefore, the knowledge on various traits of the plant is necessary so that quality of the finished products could be maintained. Present study investigates, morphological, biochemical and antioxidant properties in different populations of L. polyphyllum. A significant variation was recorded in different morphological parameters (Plant height, leaf number, leaf length, leaf width, bulb diameter, bulb fresh weight). Variation was also recorded for total soluble protein (7.81-11.35 mg/g), soluble sugar (96.14-116.14 mg/g), starch (116.37-122.43 mg/g) and total free amino acid (18.22-26.00 mg/g). Antioxidant properties in the bulb were determined and ABTS activity was 4.22 mM /100 g, DPPH activity recorded 0.85 mM/100 g and FRAP activity was 1.50 mM/100 g dw ascorbic acid equivalent, respectively. The diversity in wild populations of the species may serve as a baseline data for future breeding, domestication and conservation program.

Epicotyl morphophysiological dormancy in seeds of Lilium polyphyllum (Liliaceae).

Dormancy-breaking and seed germination studies in genus Lilium reveal that the majority of Lilium spp. studied have an underdeveloped embryo at maturity, which grows inside the seed before the radicle emerges. Additionally, the embryo, radicle or cotyledon has a physiological component of dormancy; thus, Lilium seeds have morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). A previous study suggested that seeds of Lilium polyphyllum have MPD but the study did not investigate the development of the embryo, which is one of the main criteria to determine MPD in seeds. To test this hypothesis, we investigated embryo growth and emergence of radicles and epicotyls in seeds over a range of temperatures. At maturity, seeds had underdeveloped embryos which developed fully at warm temperature within 6 weeks. Immediately after embryo growth, radicles also emerged at warm temperatures. However, epicotyls failed to emerge soon after radicle emergence. Epicotyls emerged from >90% seeds with an emerged radicle only after they were subjected to 2 weeks of cold moist stratification. The overall temperature requirements for dormancy-breaking and seed germination indicate a non-deep simple epicotyl MPD in L. polyphyllum.