Changes of Pigments and Relative Substances in Leaves of Three Red-leafed Tree Species from Prune L. in Growing Seasons

Prunus cerasifera Ehrh cv. atropurpurea Jacq,Prunus persica f. atropurpurea Schneid and Prunus×bliriana 'Meirenmei',were used to explore the changes of chlorophyll,carotenoids,anthocyanin contents as well as related physiological substances contents or activeities in the leaves and correlation between them by means of measurements of these indexes once a month during the period of May to October in 2007. The results showed that the change of anthocyanin content and anthocyanin content /chlorophyll content exhibited the rule of decreasing at the beginning and increasing subsequently,which was consistent with the variation of leaf color for three species. The change of chlorophyll content of the three species all showed a S shape of decline—increasing—decline and the first peak was in the same time as anthocyanin content,i.e. in May. The change of carotenoid content showed double W shape. The anthocyanin content was only significantly positive correlated to the soluble sugar content for Prunus persica f. atropurpurea Schneid and Prunus×bliriana 'Meirenmei',and there was no significantly correlateons to the pH or PAL activity for the three species.