Objective To study the change of appearance color and the relationship between color and quality of Phyllostachys violascens shoots from mulched forest land in order to provide references for bamboo shoot production, management and quality evaluation.

Method The color parameters, including lightness value (L), redness value (a), and yellowness value (b), in the lower, middle and upper parts of sheath and pulp were determined by colorimeter, and statistical analysis methods such as principal component analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, ANOVA and correlation analysis were carried out for these color parameters and morphological characters of mulched Ph. violascens shoots.

Result The results showed that the L, a, and b of the middle and upper parts of bamboo sheaths were the main color parts and chromaticity factors of the bamboo shoot appearances. The color of bamboo shoots could be divided into three types (dark, medium and light) based on L × a × b clustering. The consistent rate of discriminant analysis and cluster analysis was 95.6%, and the accuracy of regression validation was 93.3%, showing highly feasible and well effective of the clustering method. There were significantly differences in the color of bamboo sheath and bamboo pulp among different color types of mulched Ph. violascens shoots, the same with the morphology of shoot and its sheath, the edible rate, etc., and a strong correlation existed between the internal and external products of the bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots with lighter color had a well-proportioned yellowish-white appearance, bright white pulp, small and thin sheath, light-weighted stump, and the edible rate was higher by more than 11% compared with that of the darker ones.

Conclusion The bamboo shoots of mulched Ph. violascens have abundant changes in appearance traits such as color, morphology, etc., and generally, light-colored bamboo shoots possess more appearance quality advantages.