engleski

Changes of total carotenoids and colour of sweet corn during maturation

Colour change of the fruit during the maturation is a result of change in the concentration and distribution of the pigments and it is under the influence of many factors, such as genotype, environment, production, etc. Carotenoids, a group of lipid-soluble bioactive compounds are responsible for the yellow colour in corn grains. The objectives of this paper were to determine the total carotenoids and colour in sweet corn genotypes at five harvest dates and to determine the correlations among evaluated traits. Ten shrunken sweet corn hybrids were evaluated in 2013 and 2014. Corn were harvested 20, 23, 26, 29 and 32 days after pollination and the colour was measured on the cob surface with a Minolta Chroma meter (L*, a*, b*). Total carotenoids were determined spectrophotometrically. Significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences were observed among sweet corn genotypes and harvest data for colour parameters a* and b*. For total carotenoids content significant (P ≤ 0.05) effect had environment, genotype and harvest date. Results revealed that during maturation of sweet corn grains, total carotenoids content were increased from 12.67 to 22.88 μ/g fresh weight from the first to the last day of harvest. In average, total carotenoids content in genotype ranged from 11.69 to 20.85 μ/g fresh weights. Significant linear correlations between total carotenoids and colour parameter a* (r=0.76) and b* (r=0.56) was obtained. This correlation indicates that the breeders on the basis of colour grains can select genotypes with increased content of carotenoids.

sweet corn; carotenoids; colour

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