Composition and seasonal variation of soluble cuticular waxes in Actinidia deliciosa leaves.

Celano, G.; D'Auria, M.; Xiloyannis, C.; Mauriello, G.; Baldassarre, M.

This research examines the annual evolution and composition of soluble cuticular waxes of Actinidia deliciosa Chev. cv Hayward leaves. Soluble cuticular waxes of foliar blade were extracted in chloroform and analysed by GC-MS. The seasonal weighted mean of the wax coverage was about 24  µg  cm -2 . The alkyl alkanoates were the main class of components (10  µg  cm -2 ) followed by hydrocarbons (6  µg  cm -2 ), terpenes (3  µg  cm -2 ), alkanols (1  µg  cm -2 ), ketones (1  µg  cm -2 ), alkanoic acids (1  µg  cm -2 ), alkanals (0.7  µg  cm -2 ), and sterols (0.6  µg  cm -2 ). The concentration of the soluble cuticular components reached a peak (43  µg  cm -2 ) on the 83rd day after bud break. Different causes were proposed to explicate the seasonal evolution of the leaf waxes: biosynthesis of the waxes prevalently during rapid leaf growth; natural wax erosion and evaporation; progressive reduction in the extractability of the intracuticular free compounds due to the slow polymerization of the cutin matrix.

PLANT cuticle; CUTIN; WAXES; PLANT chemical analysis; KIWIFRUIT; LEAVES

Natural Product Research, 2006, Vol 20, Issue 8, p701

1478-6419

Academic Journal

10.1080/14786410500102407