Variation laws of anthocyanin content in root during the development and among the varieties,and their relationships with major economic traits in purple-fleshed sweetpotato Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam were studied in the present article. The dynamics of 20 economic traits in 13 purple-fleshed sweetpotato varieties at 20,40,60,80,100,120,and 140 d after their transplanting were investigated,and these traits included anthocyanin content in root,length of the longest vine,number of base branches,root number,dry matter contents in stem,foliage and root,fresh/dry weight of root,fresh/dry weight of stem,fresh/dry weight of foliage,fresh/dry weight of stem and foliage,fresh/dry weight of whole plant,and rations of photosynthate to root,stem,and foliage. The correlations between the variations of anthocyanin content and the other 19 economic traits among varieties and during the whole developing stages,and the correlations of daily increase of anthocyanin content with other 10 kinds of yields were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) During the whole development,the anthocyanin content had three variation types,i.e. a slow-increase type,a fluctuating-change type,and a devious-rising type,and had different responses to the growth of length of the longest vine,number of base branches,fresh/dry yield of root,and photosynthate allotments. (2) The anthocyanin contents among 13 varieties began to have significant difference after 20 d,and showed completed differentiation during 40-100 d,which had significantly negative correlationships with the number of base branches,fresh/dry yield of root,photosynthate allotment ratio to root,and had significant positive correlationships with dry matter content of root,length of the longest vine,fresh/dry yield of stem,dry yield of whole plant and photosynthate allotment ratio to foliage. (3) Because of the significantly negative correlation between daily increase of anthocyanin content and dry matter weight of root,the anthocyanin accumulation competed with dry matter accumulation for photosynthate in root,and the competitive relation was resolved in different ways in different purple-fleshed sweetpotato (PFSP) varieties. So,there had three variation types of anthocyanin content among PFSP varieties during their development,and had different correlations between these variations of anthocyanin content and the major economic traits.
