Fruit Color and Its Coloring Mechanism of Two Ilex verticillata Cultivars

In December 2021, mature fruits and peal were collected from 5-year Ilex verticillata‘Winter Red’and‘Winter Gold’in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Determinations were carried out on redness (a*), yellowness (b*), and lightness (L*) of the mature fruits using a color difference meter and on the content of anthocyanins and carotenoid in peal of the fruits by LC-MS. The result demonstrated that the fruit color of the tested cultivars had significant differences in a*, b*, L* and angle of the hue (ho), but had no significant difference in chroma (C*). In fruit peel of tested cultivars, 35 anthocyanins were detected, with the total content of 4927.78 μg/g and 3213.31 μg/g, 13 carotenoid substances with total contents of 59.71 μg/g and 45.151 μg/g. There were 20 anthocyanins with significant differences, like flavonols, geraniums and cornflowers, and also four carotenoid substances. The determination showed that Pelargonin-3-O-glucoside content was the highest in I. verticillata‘Winter Red’, 11.44 time of that in‘Winter Gold’. Pelargonin-3-O-glucoside may be the most important factor of the color of the fruit, especially of I. verticillata‘Winter Red’.