Summary: Cultivar, growing conditions and geographical origin are factors that influence the carotenoid composition in fruits. Because the loquat cultivars evaluated in this study, Centena´ ria, Mizauto, Mizuho, Mizumo and Ne´ ctar de Cristal, have not previously been investigated, the present work was carried out to determine and compare the carotenoid composition of these five loquat cultivars, by applying high-performance liquid chromatography connected to a photodiode array and mass spectrometry detectors (HPLC-PDA-MS/MS). Twenty-five carotenoids were separated on a C 30 column, and 23 of them were identified. All-trans-b-carotene (19–55%), all-trans-b-cryptoxanthin (18–28%), 5,6:50,60-diepoxy-b-cryptoxanthin (9–18%) and 5,6-epoxy-b-cryptoxanthin (7–10%) were the main carotenoids. The total carotenoid content ranged from 196 mg/100 g (cv. Ne´ ctar de Cristal) to 3020 mg/ 100 g (cv. Mizumo). The carotenoid profile of cv. Ne´ ctar de Cristal was different from the other cultivars, which was in agreement with its cream pulp colour, in contrast to the other four cultivars with orange pulp colour. Cultivars Mizauto, Mizuho, Mizumo and Centena´ ria showed provitamin A values between 89 and 162 mg RAE/100 g, and can be considered good source of this provitamin.

Publication year: 2009

Types of publication: Journal article

Unit: Embrapa Roraima