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Carotenoid Content of 50 Watermelon Cultivars

2006; American Chemical Society; Volume: 54; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1021/jf052066p

1520-5118

Penelope Perkins‐Veazie, Julie K. Collins, Angela R. Davis, W. Roberts,

Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities

The lycopene content of 50 commercial cultivars of seeded and seedless red-fleshed watermelons was determined. Scanning colorimetric and spectrophotometric assays of total lycopene were used to separate watermelon cultivars into low ( 90 mg/kg fw). Cultivars varied greatly in lycopene content, ranging from 33 to 100 mg/kg. Most of the seeded hybrid cultivars had average lycopene contents. Sixteen of the 33 seedless types had lycopene contents in the high and very high ranges. All-trans-lycopene was the predominant carotenoid (84−97%) in all watermelon cultivars measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, but the germplasm differed in the relative amounts of cis-lycopene, β-carotene, and phytofluene. Red-fleshed watermelon genotypes vary extensively in carotenoid content and offer opportunities for developing watermelons with specifically enhanced carotenoids. Keywords: Lycopene; free radical scavenger; antioxidant; Citrullus lanatus