Plant growth regulator containing astaxanthin and application of plant growth regulator in planting of cerasus humilis
By spraying European plum trees with a 10 mg/L astaxanthin solution, the problems of high acidity and low anthocyanin content in European plum fruits were solved, resulting in multiple improvements in fruit quality, including reduced acidity, reduced astringency, and increased anthocyanin accumulation, thereby enhancing the nutritional value and market competitiveness of the fruit.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2026-01-13
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-14
AI Technical Summary
European plum fruits have high acidity and astringent content, but low anthocyanin content. Traditional methods have limited effectiveness in improving this, and there is a lack of effective methods to regulate anthocyanin metabolism, which affects fruit quality and market acceptance.
A plant growth regulator containing 10 mg/L astaxanthin was applied three times before the fruit coloring and enlargement stage and before the hardening stage of the European plum. An electric sprayer was used to ensure uniform spraying, thereby increasing anthocyanin accumulation and calcium content.
It significantly reduces fruit acidity, increases calcium and anthocyanin content, improves fruit quality, enhances fruit coloring and nutritional value, reduces astringency, and strengthens antioxidant capacity.
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention belongs to the field of fruit tree cultivation and plant growth regulation technology, specifically relating to a plant growth regulator containing astaxanthin and its application in the cultivation of European plum. Background Technology
[0002] European plum (Cerasus humilis) is an important specialty fruit resource in northern my country. Its fruit is rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients, and has gained widespread popularity in the market in recent years as a health food and fruit product. However, the fruit has a high acidity and a high content of astringent substances, especially condensed tannins such as proanthocyanidins, which easily bring a noticeable astringent taste, affecting the quality of fresh food and palatability after processing, seriously impacting flavor quality and market acceptance. Calcium helps increase fruit firmness, extend shelf life, and has a positive effect on human bone health. Anthocyanins and other natural antioxidants are important components affecting the nutritional value, color, and flavor of the fruit. European plum fruit has a low natural anthocyanin content, and traditional color-enhancing measures (such as brightening and using plant growth regulators) have limited effectiveness in improving its color. There is a lack of a method that can directly regulate anthocyanin metabolism and promote its rapid accumulation.
[0003] Astaxanthin, a natural carotenoid, possesses potent antioxidant properties, enhancing plant stress resistance, promoting photosynthesis, and increasing nutrient accumulation. While widely used in pharmaceuticals, health products, and animal feed, its application in fruit cultivation, particularly in improving the quality of European plum fruits, lacks publicly available literature and technical reports. There is a lack of systematic research on the application concentration, timing, and frequency of astaxanthin in plants, and its effect on promoting fruit nutritional quality. Given the increasing demand for high-quality fruit in the European plum industry, there is an urgent need for a safe, efficient, easy-to-operate, significantly effective, and widely applicable plant regulation method that can simultaneously reduce acidity and astringency, promote calcium production, and increase anthocyanin content, thereby comprehensively improving the quality and market competitiveness of European plum fruits. Summary of the Invention
[0004] To address the above problems, the present invention provides a plant growth regulator comprising astaxanthin.
[0005] This invention also provides the application of plant growth regulators in the cultivation of European plum.
[0006] Furthermore, this includes the following steps:
[0007] Before the fruit coloring and swelling stage of the European plum, spray the whole plant with a plant growth regulator. Spray twice before the coloring and swelling stage, and once after the coloring and swelling stage and before the hardening stage, for a total of 3 sprays.
[0008] Furthermore, the final concentration of astaxanthin in the plant growth regulator is 10 mg / L.
[0009] Furthermore, the two sprays applied before the coloring and swelling period are ten days apart.
[0010] Furthermore, spraying should be carried out between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM.
[0011] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:
[0012] 1. The method of this invention significantly improves the quality of European plum fruit by spraying astaxanthin solution. Compared with the control, the titratable acidity of the fruit at full ripeness was reduced by 26.21% under the 10 mg / L astaxanthin treatment, the total calcium content increased by 82.54%, the water-soluble calcium content increased by 21.17%, the pectin calcium content decreased by 9.28%, the active calcium content increased by 11.02%, the anthocyanin content increased by 93.57%, and the proanthocyanidin content decreased by 32.12%, achieving multiple quality improvements such as reduced acidity, reduced astringency, increased calcium content, and high anthocyanin accumulation.
[0013] 2. This invention achieves significant results by spraying the fruiting branches of *Prunus armeniaca* with a 10 mg / L astaxanthin solution. Astaxanthin is a naturally sourced antioxidant pigment with high safety, no pollution, and no pesticide residues. It has no negative impact on fruit trees, fruits, or the ecological environment, meeting the requirements of green agriculture, pollution-free production, and sustainable development.
[0014] 3. The preferred method of the present invention, which uses an electric sprayer, ensures that the solution is evenly distributed on the leaves and fruit surface, improves the absorption and utilization efficiency of astaxanthin, reduces solution waste, enhances the spraying effect, and has good field operability.
[0015] 4. The method of this invention increases the total calcium, water-soluble calcium, and active calcium in the fruit, promotes calcium accumulation in the fruit, and significantly enhances the bioavailability of calcium in fruit cells and the effective forms involved in metabolism, which helps to improve the stability of fruit cell walls, crack resistance, and storage resistance. At the same time, the pectin calcium content is reduced to a certain extent, which is beneficial to improving the texture of the fruit flesh, making it more tender and juicy, and further improving the commercial appearance and eating quality of the fruit.
[0016] 5. The method of this invention significantly increases anthocyanin content by up to 93.57%, resulting in more vibrant fruit coloring, significantly enhanced antioxidant capacity, and improved nutritional value, aesthetics, and functional properties of the fruit. At the same time, the proanthocyanidin content is reduced by 32.12% compared to the control, which helps to reduce the astringency caused by condensed tannins and improve the palatability of fresh and processed products. Detailed Implementation
[0017] Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention are now described in detail. Unless otherwise specified, the methods used in the embodiments are conventional methods, and the reagents used are commercially available reagents or reagents prepared using conventional methods. This detailed description should not be considered as a limitation of the present invention, but rather as a more detailed description of certain aspects, characteristics, and embodiments of the present invention.
[0018] It should be understood that the terminology used in this invention is merely for describing particular embodiments and is not intended to limit the invention. Furthermore, with respect to numerical ranges in this invention, it should be understood that each intermediate value between the upper and lower limits of the range is also specifically disclosed. Any stated value or intermediate value within a stated range, as well as each smaller range between any other stated value or intermediate value within said range, is also included in this invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may be independently included or excluded from the range.
[0019] Unless otherwise stated, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. While only preferred methods and materials have been described herein, any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein may be used in the implementation or testing of this invention. All references to this specification are incorporated by way of citation to disclose and describe methods and / or materials associated with those references. In the event of any conflict with any incorporated reference, the content of this specification shall prevail.
[0020] Various modifications and variations can be made to the specific embodiments described in this specification without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Other embodiments derived from this specification will also be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. This specification and embodiments are merely exemplary.
[0021] The terms “include,” “including,” “have,” “contain,” etc., used in this article are all open-ended terms, meaning that they include but are not limited to.
[0022] Example 1
[0023] 1. Determining the spraying time. Based on the growth process of the European plum fruit, spraying should be carried out on a sunny morning between 8:00 and 10:00 before the coloring and swelling stage and before the hardening stage to ensure the best absorption effect.
[0024] 2. Preparation of astaxanthin solution. Prepare an astaxanthin solution with a final concentration of 10 mg / L. Taking a 10 L solution as an example, accurately weigh 0.1 g of astaxanthin, dissolve it in 5 mL of anhydrous ethanol, and then dilute with water to a final volume of 10 L. Prepare and use immediately.
[0025] 3. Spraying the entire plant with astaxanthin solution. Pour the prepared astaxanthin solution into an electric sprayer and spray it evenly onto the Prunus cerasifera plants, ensuring even coverage and avoiding any missed areas, while minimizing dripping.
[0026] 4. Harvesting. Harvest the fruit after it has reached full ripeness. Select healthy fruit that is uniform in size, free from pests, diseases, and mechanical damage to ensure the representativeness and accuracy of the experimental results.
[0027] 5. Sample processing. The collected fruits were transported back to the laboratory in ice boxes, washed with distilled water and dried, then divided into 3 equal portions and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen at -80 ℃ for storage until analysis.
[0028] 6. Determination of titratable acidity of fruit. Weigh 5 g of fresh Prunus cerasifera fruit sample, add ultrapure water and extract organic acids in an 80℃ water bath. Determine the titratable acidity using acid-base titration. The results are shown in Table 1.
[0029] 7. Determination of total calcium content in the fruit. 0.1 g of dried Prunus cerasifera fruit was weighed, and total calcium was extracted using the sulfuric acid-hydrogen peroxide digestion method. The total calcium content was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The results are shown in Table 2.
[0030] 8. Determination of water-soluble calcium and pectin calcium content in fruit. 0.5 g of fresh Prunus cerasifera fruit was weighed, and the contents of water-soluble calcium and pectin calcium were extracted using a stepwise extraction method with ultrapure water and 1 mol / L NaCl. The contents of water-soluble calcium and pectin calcium in the fruit were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The results are shown in Table 2.
[0031] 9. Determination of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin content in the fruit. 0.6 g of fresh Prunus cerasifera fruit sample was weighed, and anthocyanins were extracted with 40% methanol containing 0.1% hydrochloric acid. The anthocyanin content was determined by pH differential method, and the proanthocyanidin content was determined by hydrochloric acid-vanillin method. The results are shown in Table 3.
[0032]
[0033] .
[0034]
[0035] The embodiments described above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Various modifications and improvements made by those skilled in the art to the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention should fall within the protection scope defined by the claims of the present invention.
Claims
1. A plant growth regulator, characterized in that, The ingredients include astaxanthin.
2. The application of the plant growth regulator as described in claim 1 in the cultivation of European plum.
3. The application according to claim 2, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Before the fruit coloring and swelling stage of the European plum, spray the whole plant with a plant growth regulator. Spray twice before the coloring and swelling stage, and once after the coloring and swelling stage and before the hardening stage, for a total of 3 sprays.
4. The application according to claim 3, characterized in that, The final concentration of astaxanthin in the plant growth regulator is 10 mg / L.
5. The application according to claim 3, characterized in that, The two sprays applied before the coloring and swelling period were ten days apart.
6. The application according to claim 3, characterized in that, Spraying will be carried out between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM.