Biochemical Diversity of Yellow Flag (Iris pseudacorus L.) at Various Geographical Locations

Biochemical diversity may result from geographic and environmental changes. In the present study, 16 ecotypes of yellow flag species were identified and collected through field studies. The identified ecotypes were then grouped into three populations based on their geographical locations. Eight biochemical properties, including chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, phenol and flavonoid content, antioxidant capacity, and anthocyanin, were carefully measured by spectrophotometric methods. The biochemical traits were analyzed in a completely randomized design with three replications using SAS software and principal component analysis using SPSS software. The analysis of variance showed that all biochemical traits studied in the ecotypes of the yellow flag showed significant differences (p<0.05; p<0.01). Photosynthetic pigments were most frequently found in ecotype Q, phenol and flavonoids of ecotype K, ecotype O's antioxidant capacity, and ecotype L's anthocyanin content. The studied populations were divided into three main groups using cluster analysis. The results obtained from the correlation table of traits show that the most positive and significant correlations are related to chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll (r = 90%), total chlorophyll and carotenoids (r = 67%), as well as phenol content and flavonoid content (r = 56 %). The results indicate that the studied ecotypes have considerable diversity in terms of biochemical traits.