The present study was designed to explore the anthocyanin profile and antioxidant activities in Indian rose varieties (Rosa × hybrida). Among fifty varieties, Ashwini recorded the highest total phenolic content (427.59 ± 3.47 mg GAE/100 g) along with the highest FRAP (397.15 ± 0.82 µmol trolox/g) and DPPH free radical scavenging activity (93.47 ± 0.19%) on a fresh weight basis. A significant positive correlation was observed between total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities. Four distinct clusters were formed according to total anthocyanins, total phenols, and antioxidant activities; white- and yellow-colored varieties were most distant from red ones. Principal component analysis revealed that variable total anthocyanin content contributed to the maximum variation among the fifty rose varieties studied. Highly anthocyanin-rich rose varieties were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PAD), which identified two major components of anthocyanins, i.e., cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside and pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside. Cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside was the predominant anthocyanin in red- and pink-colored varieties, whereas pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside was the major one in the orange variety. The maximum cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside content was recorded in variety Ashwini (497.79 mg/100 g), whereas the maximum pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside content was recorded in Suryakiran (185.43 mg/100 g). It is suggested that the rose varieties with high anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity can be exploited as a potential source of nutraceuticals in the food industry.

Identification and characterization of new cultivars is essential to meet DUS testing, address IPR issues and their utilization and conservation. Traditionally, morphological markers were used for germplasm characterization as being simple and irreplaceable. A total of 57 RAPD primers were screened and out of these 22 primers which gave sufficient amplification were selected for the study. Out of 207 bands generated, 175 were polymorphic with a polymorphism percentage of 84.54%. The polymorphism percentage ranged between 60% (OPA04) to 100% (OPA17, OPB-06, OPX14, OPX-19). The primer OPA08 generated least numbers of bands (4) and OPA06 generated maximum number of bands (17). The Rp values ranged between 0.82 to 8.18 for RAPD primers OPY-4 and OPX16, respectively with a mean value of 3.94 and the correlation between Rp and number of cultivars identified by each primer was fairly high (0.96). The primers OPX16, OPY6 and OPA04 distinguished higher number of cultivars of 49, 46 and 37 respectively. The UPGMA dendrogram indicated that the cultivars Maghi Orange and Maghi Yellow were sharing the maximum similarity (89%) and were close to Maghi White at a similarity level of 86%. The other cultivars sharing higher similarity levels were Flirt with Yellow Gold, Pink Cloud with Korean Small and Sadbhawna with Jubilee. RAPD proved to be useful for the characterization of the genotypes for their efficient utilization, management and IPR protection.

Identification and characterization of new varieties is essential to meet DUS testing, address IPR issues and their utilization and conservation. A total of 68 ISSR primers were screened and out of these 23 primers which gave sufficient amplification were selected for the study. These primers produced 169 bands, out of which, 149 were polymorphic with a polymorphic percentage of 88.17%. The ISSR primers namely ISSR 22, ISSR 26, ISSR 38 generated least number of bands, i.e. four of which only two were polymorphic with a polymorphism of 50% in ISSR 22. The polymorphism across all the ISSR markers ranged between 66.7% (ISSR37) to 100% (ISSR 21, ISSR 25, ISSR 26, ISSR 28, ISSR 30 and ISSR 811). The resolving power of band (Rp) produced by ISSR markers ranged from 0.66 to 7.64 for primer ISSR 38 and ISSR 31 with a mean value of 86.48 for all the primers. The correlations between Rp and number of varieties identified by each ISSR primer (0.92) were fairly high. The value of polymorphic information content (PIC) was ranged from 0.023 (ISSR 809) to 0.553 (ISSR 26) with a mean value of 0.35 over all the primers. The UPGMA dendrogram based on ISSR analysis indicated that the outlier species were 74% dissimilar with other varieties and grouped separately. The cultivars Maghi Orange and Maghi Yellow had around 90% similarity and were close to cultivar Maghi White at over 80% similarity level. ISSR markers were proved to be useful for the characterization of the genotypes for their efficient utilization, management and IPR protection.