Identification of Suitable Locus for Specific Detection of Biological Adulterants of Saffron

Saffron being one of the highest priced commodities and having high market potential is often adulterated with other biological adulterants which have resemblance to saffron and are often difficult to detect by conventional methods. To devise an efficient method for biological adulterant (safflower/Calendula) detection in saffron, three different cytoplasmic and nuclear DNA barcodes namely ITS2, rbcLa, and psbA-trnH and already developed species/adulterant-specific PCR-based SCAR markers namely SAFL-4, SAFL-40, ScCt131, ScCO390, and ScCs263 were tested in the present study. Adulteration of safflower (0.5%) and Calendula (3%) could be detected in saffron: safflower/Calendula admixtures with the primer pairs SAFL-40 and ScCo390, respectively. In multiplex PCR with SCAR markers for simultaneous detection of safflower and saffron, detection of up to 7% safflower adulteration was possible in admixtures. Among the three barcoding loci, the barcode psbA-trnH allowed the detection of safflower and Calendula adulteration in saffron by producing different size amplicons, whereas barcode ITS2 produced amplicons of similar sizes and rbcLa did not give reproducible results.