Phenotypic Diversity of Anthocyanins in Sorghum Accessions with Various Pericarp Pigments

Anthocyanins, a sub-class of flavonoids, are natural pigments known to have functional health benefits. Sorghum is a rich source of various phytochemicals including anthocyanins. This study was to identify and quantify the profiles of anthocyanins by HPLC-DAD in the selected 25 sorghum accessions with various phenotypic pericarp pigments. The predominant anthocyanins found in sorghums were 3-deoxyanthocyanidins including the unique leuteolinidin and apigeninidin analogs. The high levels of total anthocyanins were found in the red pericarp PI297139 and the brown pericarp PI221723, followed by the brown pericarp PI35038 and the yellow pericarp PI229838. There were moderate to low levels of anthocyanins observed in all the other accessions except for the white pericarp that generally contained least to undetectable amount. Although anthocyanins appeared to be associated with the pericarp color in the sorghum accessions with the highest contents in each pericarp pigment category, a distinguishable diversity of anthocyanin contents was presented among and between the phenotypic pericarp colors, suggesting other colorful phytochemicals such as carotenoids might be contributed. Establishing a database of anthocyanin profile and diversity in sorghum accessions with various pericarp pigments may lead to the development of novel functional sorghum products with active anthocyanin-enriched health benefits.