Analysis of carotenoid composition in petal extracts of marigold (Tagetes erecta)

Abstract

The present study was carried out to estimate carotenoids and its fractions i.e. carotene, mono-hydroxy pigment (MHP), di-hydroxy pigment (DHP) and total xanthophylls at different floral stages and during storage in seventeen marigold (Tagetes erecta) genotypes. The flowers from each genotype were harvested at bud burst stage and full-bloom stage. The total carotene content ranged from 0.73-68.43 mg/100g. The monohydroxy pigments varied from 2.23-103.14 mg/100g and dihydroxy pigments from 10.84-169.49 mg/100g. The xanthophyll content varied from 29.36-317.09 mg/100g. Flowers at bud burst stage contained more carotene, monohydroxy pigments, dihydroxy pigments and xanthophyll content as compared to the flowers harvested at full bloom stage in all the genotypes. Also, all the pigments decreased with increasing period of storage from first day to 13th day of storage.