Analyses of phylogenetics, starch granule morphology and consumer preference of <i>Canna indica</i> L. grown in Sri Lanka

• Main Authors: R. W. K. M. Senevirathna, L. T. Ranaweera, N. D. U. S. Nakandala, H. M. T. N. Senavirathna, W. M. D. A. Wijesundara, H. S. M. Jayarathne, C. K. Weebadde, S. D. S. S. Sooriyapathirana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2020-09-01
• Series: Ceylon Journal of Science
• Subjects: devkali, indian-shot, large starch granules in plants, ornamental canna spp., underutilized tuber crops
• Online Access: https://cjs.sljol.info/articles/7777

<em>Canna indica</em> is a tuber crop which has many medicinal values. In Sri Lanka, <em>C. indica</em> tubers are consumed in rural areas and mainly available in street-markets of Nuwara-Eliya and Kandy Districts. In the present study, we assessed the phylogenetics of <em>C. indica</em>, starch granule morphology and consumer preference of <em>C. indica</em> tubers in comparison to the popular tuber crops. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on the sequence polymorphism at <em>rbc</em>L, <em>atp</em>B gene, <em>trn</em>L-<em>trn</em>F and <em>trn</em>H-<em>psb</em>A marker-loci with respect to the ornamental <em>Canna </em>spp. in Sri Lanka and the previously published sequences of <em>Canna</em> spp. The starch granules were isolated and observed under optical and scanning electron microscopes. The diameter and the surface area of the starch granules were measured under the optical microscope and subjected to analysis of variance. As <em>C. indica</em> tubers are consumed as boiled tuber pieces in Sri Lanka, the consumer preference analysis was conducted using the boiled tuber pieces <em>C. indica, Xanthosoma sagittifolium, Manihot esculenta, Solanum tuberosum, </em>and<em> Ipomoea batatas</em>. The phylogenetic tree based on <em>rbc</em>L marker revealed that<em> C. indica</em> in Sri Lanka is slightly divergent from the other <em>Canna</em> spp. Only the polymorphism of the <em>atp</em>B gene can be used to differentiate <em>C. indica</em> from the ornamental <em>Canna</em> sp. in Sri Lanka. The morphological analysis of starch granules revealed that <em>C. indica</em> has the biggest scallop-seashell shaped starch granules compared to other tuber species. The boiled <em>C. indica</em> tubers were accepted better than that of X. <em>sagittifolium</em>, rated equally to the tubers of <em>S. tuberosum</em> and <em>M. esculenta</em>, and rated less than <em>I. batatas</em>. The hardy and fibrous nature of <em>C. indica</em> tubers must be the major limiting factors for achieving the highest consumer preference highlighting the need of breeding for better texture in tubers