Altitudinal Variation In Some Phytochemical Constituents And Stomatal Traits Of Primula Denticulata

Abstract

Due to extensive medicinal importance and wide distributional range of Primula denticulata Sm., locally known as Doker-neej (Kashmiri) of family Primulaceae, in Kashmir valley, the present investigation was carried out to study the variations in phenology, stomatal traits and content of phytochemicals of the species in relation to altitude. During the present investigation, trends in the stomatal traits which include: stomatal density, length and breadth of guard cells and potential conductance index (PCI) along an altitudinal gradient were analyzed by using standard methods. Samples from different populations with varying altitudes were also subjected to qualitative and quantitative estimation for the presence of various phytochemicals by using various spectrophotometric techniques. It was observed that mean values of the analyzed stomatal traits in the four populations varied significantly (p 0.05) across the populations. Phytochemicals such as phenols, tannins, alkaloids and saponins were present in all the sampled populations but their quantity varied significantly across the populations.   This assessing of phytochemical content of plants at varying altitudes can help to select elite genotype and reflect the best suited altitude for commercial cultivation of the species as these phytochemicals are considered as the basis for their medicinal activity.