Biochemical Characterization of Rosa Genotypes: Identifying Elite Genotypes for Enhanced Nutrition and Functional Food Development

Abstract

Rosa spp. represents a significant botanical taxon with both beauty and nutrition with a history spanning thousands of years in culinary and medicinal traditions. A study was conducted in Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, during the year 2023-2025 to biochemically characterise different rose genotypes and evaluate total phenolic content, total flavonoid, carotenoid, anthocyanin, protein and Vitamin C. The results revealed significant diversity in their nutritional and phytochemical profiles. Among the studied accessions, KAU R 2 stands out as a highly potent genotype, containing the highest concentrations of protein (0.20 mg/100g), anthocyanins (400.07 mg/100g), and Vitamin C (48.11 mg/100g). Proteins remained generally low across all samples with KAU R 4 exhibiting the minimum. The secondary metabolite concentrations showed much wider variation. KAU R 26 was identified as the richest source of phenols at 86.40 mg GAE/g, whereas KAU R 10 possessed the superior flavonoid content at 425.07 mg QE/g. Additionally, Rock star reached the peak for carotenoids at 5.62 mg/100g. Conversely, KAU R 8 and KAU R 4 were notably lower in several categories, with KAU R 8 showing the lowest phenol content (50.54 mg GAE/g) and anthocyanin levels (48.33 mg/100g), and KAU R 4 yielding the lowest Vitamin C (18.00 mg/100g) and carotenoid (1.20 mg/100g) content. The results suggests that these rose genotypes possess significant potential as sustainable alternatives for functional food products. Owing to their high concentrations of bioactive compounds, these specific accessions are positioned as elite supplementary ingredients for the future of functional nutrition.