Establishing the Relationship Between Flavonoid Content, Mycorrhization, and Soil Nutritional Content in Different Species of the Genus Passiflora in Colombia

The genusPassifloracomprisesmorethan500 speciesdistributedin tropicaland semitropicalregions.Witha greatdiversityof species,it is estimatedthatone-thirdis foundin Colombianterritory.Besidesthe foodimportance,Passifloraspeciesare importantsourcesof biologicallyactivecompounds,suchasflavonoids.The mostimportantsymbiosisbetweensoil fungiand vascularplantsrelatedto plantnutritionandtoleranceto stressconditionsis mycorrhizae.Passifloraspeciesformarbuscularmycorrhizae,withseveralspeciesofGlomeromycota.Thisassociationhas beenreportedto alterthe productionofsecondarymetabolites.Thus,the objectiveof this studywas to determinetherelationbetweenflavonoidcontent,mycorrhization,and soil nutritionalcontentofPassifloraalata,Passifloraquadrangularis,Passifloramaliformis,andPassifloraligularisin Colombiancrops.Theextractswerepreparedand analyzedusingUPLC/PDA-MS,and totalflavonoidswerequantifiedwiththe methodof AlCl3.Soilcharacteristics,includingnutritionalcontentand percentageof colonizationby arbuscularmycorrhizalfungi,werealsodetermined.All variableswereanalyzedusingSpearman’scorrelationand principalcomponentanalysis.Chromatographicanalysisofthe extractsallowedus to visualizethe differentflavonoidcompositionsof eachextract,identifyingseveralC-glycosylflavonoids.Inthis paper,we reportfor the first time the presenceof luteolin-8-C-rhamnosyl-4′-O-glucoside,apigenin-6-C-arabinosyl-7-O-glucoside,and orientinforP. maliformis.Statisticalanalysisshoweda negativecorrelationbetweenavailablephosphorus(ρ=−0.90,p= <0.05)and magnesium(Mg)saturation(ρ=−0.70,p= <0.05)on flavonoidcontent,whereasthe calciummagnesium(Ca/Mg)ratiowaspositivelycorrelated(ρ= 0.70,p= <0.01).Therewas a nonsignificantcorrelationbetweenmycorrhizationand flavonoidcontent(ρ=−0.70,p= >0.1).Theseresultscontributeto understandingthe relationshipbetweenflavonoid-mycorrhization-soilnutritionalcontentonPassifloraspp