Floral scent evaluation of segregating lines of A. caryophyllaea

Floral scent plays an important role in attracting and guiding pollinators and is composed of a bouquetof volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Alstroemeria is a commercially important cut flower, howeverbreeding efforts have focussed on flower colour and size rather than scent. Recently analysis of twoscented cultivars derived from the scented Alstroemeria caryophyllaea revealed a surprising divergencein VOC profiles. Here 13 scented lines of A. caryophyllaea derived from selfing were characterized includingmorphology, evaluation of the floral scent through GC–MS and sensorial analysis. Leaf shape, stem length,flower size, shape, colouration and productivity all varied between lines. Sensorial analyses indicatedthat two lines (C013 and C017) were most highly rated for their appearance and C017 was also scoredhighest for its scent contrasting with C004 which scored lowest. Analyses of scent bouquets from sixof the lines revealed 23 terpenoid compounds. All lines showed the same most abundant compoundputatively identified as -trans-ocimene, and three further compounds were discriminatory amongstthe lines following PCA. Genomic organization of AlstroTPS, a previously identified myrcene synthase,showed substantial polymorphism between lines. The multifactorial characterization performed in thisstudy showed differences among the lines confirming parental heterozygosity.