Carotenoids in pumpkin are nutritionally important as antioxidants, while the relationship between species, maturity and carotenoids and also the accumulation of carotenoids during fruit growth have not been extensively analyzed. We investigated β-carotene and lycopene contents of nineteen pumpkin varieties by HPLC. The adopted HPLC method was dependable and provided good separation of β-carotene and lycopene. The formation of β-carotene during pumpkin growth did not present a special formation phase except for one variety, while the accumulation rate of β-carotene differed among varieties, ranging from 1.5 to 32.0 µg/100 g per day. Low concentrations of lycopene were detected in six pumpkin varieties having high content of β-carotene. Maturity and species all had significant effect on β-carotene content (P < 0.05). The β-carotene content in C. maxima was about 3.3 times that in C. moschata (P < 0.05) and 2.0 times higher in early maturity varieties compared to middle-late varieties (P < 0.05). The varieties were separated into three groups of similarity by β-carotene content and average single fruit weight after applying hierarchical cluster analysis, and some early maturity C. maxima varieties especially containing β-carotene over 950 µg/100 g fresh wt., could be good sources of pro-vitamin A.

中文翻译：

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物种、种类和成熟度影响南瓜果实中的β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素


南瓜中的类胡萝卜素作为抗氧化剂在营养上很重要，而物种、成熟度和类胡萝卜素之间的关系以及类胡萝卜素在果实生长过程中的积累尚未得到广泛分析。我们通过 HPLC 研究了 19 个南瓜品种的 β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素含量。采用的 HPLC 方法可靠，β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素分离效果好。南瓜生长过程中 β-胡萝卜素的形成除了一个品种外没有呈现特殊的形成阶段，而 β-胡萝卜素的积累速率因品种而异，从每天 1.5 到 32.0 μg/100 g 不等。在 β-胡萝卜素含量高的 6 个南瓜品种中检测到低浓度的番茄红素。成熟度和种类均对β-胡萝卜素含量有显著影响（P < 0.05）。大栗栗中β-胡萝卜素含量约为栗栗的3.3倍（P < 0.05），早熟品种的2.0倍（P < 0.05）。采用分层聚类分析，根据β-胡萝卜素含量和平均单果重量将品种分为3组相似性，其中一些早熟的胡萝卜素品种，特别是β-胡萝卜素含量超过950 μg/100 g鲜重的品种，可能是维生素A原的良好来源。