Total carotenoid content, a-carotene and b-carotene, of landrace pumpkins (Cucurbita moschata Duch): a preliminary study.

• Autor(a) principal: CARVALHO, L. M. J. de
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: GOMES, P. B., GODOY, R. L. de O., PACHECO, S., MONTE, P. H. F. do, CARVALHO, J. L. V. de, NUTTI, M. R., NEVES, A. C. L., VIEIRA, A. C. R. A., RAMOS, S. R. R.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
• Texto Completo: http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/909483
• topic: Abóbora cheirosa; Carotenóide; Cucúrbita Moschata

Landrace pumpkins occur in nature and their potential as source of pro-vitamin A may be investigated in order to be used in conventional plant breeding or biofortification programs, aiming to increase the total carotenoids and b-carotene contents. The objective of the study was to determine the total carotenoid, a-carotene, b-carotene and its isomers and contents in two landrace samples (A and B) of raw pumpkins (Cucurbita moschata) to verify its seed production potential.High Performance Liquid Chromatography andUV/Visible spectrophotometrywere used to determine a-carotene, b-carotene and its isomers, and total carotenoid contents, respectively. All analyses were carried out in triplicate. The results showedmean total carotenoid contents of 404.98 in sample A, and 234.21 ug/g in sample B. The a-carotene contents varied from 67.06 to 72.99 ug/g in samples A and B, respectively. All E-b-carotene was the most abundant isomer found varying from 244.22 to 141.95 ug/g in samples A and B, respectively. The 9 and 13-Z-b-carotene isomers were still found in lowconcentrations in both analyzed landrace samples. The content of b-carotene inrawsampleAshowed to be promising for the production of seeds for cultivation and consumption.