Objective

2

To study the effect of flower removal on the content of three alkaloids in different parts of

Fritillaria thunbergii

from different regions and at different growth stages.

Method

2

The content of peiminine， peimine， and peimisine in the bulb， root， stem， and leaf of

F. thunbergii

after flower removal and with flower un-removed at different growth stages and in different regions were determined simultaneously by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection （UPLC-ELSD） method. The UPLC was conducted on ACQUITY UPLC BEH C

18

column （2.1 mm × 150 mm， 1.7 μm） with the mobile phase of 0.02% triethylamine aqueous solution （A） and methanol （B）elution gradient（0-2 min， 45%A； 2-5 min， 45%-25%A； 5-7 min， 25%A； 7-17 min， 25%-10%A； 17-20 min， 10%A）， flow velocity of 0.20 mL·min

-1

， column temperature 35 °C， sample room temperature of 20 °C， and injection volume of 3 µL. The ELSD was carried out at drift tube temperature 45 °C and with the sprayer parameter of 40%.

Result

2

The flower removal significantly increased the yield of

F. thunbergii

. At the budding stage， the alkaloid content in the bulb of

F. thunbergii

from Ningbo in Zhejiang， Pan'an in Zhejiang， and Nantong in Jiangsu after flower removal were significantly higher than that of flowering un-removal treatment， while it showed no significant difference between the flower removal and un-removal treatments for the samples from Fengjie in Chongqing. At the flowering stage， the alkaloid content in the

bulb of

F. thunbergii

from Nantong in Jiangsu after flower removal was significantly higher than that of flower un-removal treatment， while it showed an opposite trend for the samples from Pan'an in Zhejiang and Fengjie in Chongqing and had no significant difference between the two treatments for the samples from Ningbo in Zhejiang. At the bulb expansion stage， the alkaloid content in the bulb of

F. thunbergii

from Ningbo in Zhejiang and Pan’an in Zhejiang after flower removal were significantly higher than that of flower un-removal treatment， which was opposite for the samples from Nantong in Jiangsu and had no significant difference between the treatments for the samples from Fengjie in Chongqing. At the harvest stage， except for the samples from Pan'an in Zhejiang， the samples from the rest 3 regions showed decreased alkaloid content in the bulb after flower removal compared with that of flower un-removal treatment. The alkaloid content in the leaf was higher than that in the bulb of

F. thunbergii

at all growth stages and from different origins.

Conclusion

2

Flower removal can increase the yield of

F. thunbergii

. The alkaloid content in the bulb of

F. thunbergii

with flower removed was higher than that with flower un-removed at the budding stage， while this trend was reversed at the harvest stage. Both the yield and the alkaloid content of

F. thunbergii

from Pan'an in Zhejiang were increased by flower removal. The above-ground part of

F. thunbergii

has a potential development value.