carotenoid content from citrus juices, a selection of three

Centre

de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le

développement

Designandproduction:CIRAD,MartineDuportal,September2009

C. Dhuique-Mayer^1*, A.L Fanciullino², C. Dubois³, P. Ollitrault⁴

1CIRAD-Dept persyst-UMR Qualisud, TA B95/16,

2 INRA UR Geqa, site de San Guliano, F-20230, San Guliano, France

3,4 Dept BIOS UPR 75, 34398 Montpellier cedex 5, France (claudie.dhuique-mayer@cirad.fr).

* corresponding author claudie.dhuique-mayer@cirad.fr

ITRUS

juices, such as orange juices, represent significant sources of carotenoids that could contribute, to the beneficial health effects of this fruit product. Genetic and

environmental factors influenced the carotenoid composition of citrus juices. In order to assess the effect of genotype and geographical origins, on

carotenoid content from citrus juices, a selection of three

orange varieties cultivated in Mediterranean, subtropical and tropical areas were analysed.

M aterial and Method

Juices from three sweet orange cultivars, i.e. Pera, Sanguinelli and Valencia (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) belonging to the same Citrus accessions and cultivated in Mediterranean (Corsica),

and tropical areas (New Caledonia, Tahiti, Brazil, Cuba and Costa-Rica). All juices were analysed by HPLC using a C30 column according to a previous method (1). Representative samples were collected from different countries at commercial maturity using maturity index as indicator.

Statistical analysis was used to evaluate significance of variety and year effect and to classify juices (SAS 9.1 Windows USA, @DARwin 5.0 cirad and XLSTAT 7.0 France).

R esults and discussion

❚

❚ Annual carotenoid content variations in Corsican fruits were found to be

limited compared to variations due to varietal influences (p < 0.05). The genetic variability among sweet orange cultivars was associated with significant

variations in the contents of four carotenoids (cis-violaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, phytoene and phytofluene). Sanguinelli and Pera cultivars revealed significantly higher provitamin A carotenoid than Valencia variety (table 1).

❚

❚ Variations in Valencia oranges from five geographical origins were illustrated by a dissimilarity tree (figure 1) which was drawn up with the content of seven carotenoids, listed in table 1, underlined that the quantitative compositions were more geographical origin-dependent than annual variation-

dependent.

❚

❚ Influence of environmental conditions on carotenoid contents was particularly high for sweet oranges. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that Mediterranean sweet oranges, with high carotenoid contents, are clearly differentiated from those of all other origins (figure 2). Strong

correlations were observed between β-cryptoxanthin, phytofluene and phytoene (r = 0.931) and between β-carotene and phytoene (0.918). To complete this PCA, the graph from the figure 3

highlighted that carotenoid profiles varied as a function of the two principal carotenoids (β-cryptoxanthin and cis-violaxanthin) with respect to origins (New-Caledonia, Corsica).

Table 1. Carotenoid contents (mg/L) and vitamin A values in three varieties of Corsican orange juices, mean over 3 years.

* Expressed as retinol activity equivalent L-1 (Conversion factor 1 µg RAE = 12 µg -carotene+24 µg -cryptoxanthine)

Valencia CO Sanguin CO Pera CO

0.48 0.79 0.44 2.1 1.77 5.02 1.37 124

0.94 1.01 0.43 4.1 1.86 6.37 1.79 207

0.72 0.67 0.5 3.17 2.37 5.26 1.5 174

Orange varieties phytoene phytofluene β−carotene β−cryptoxanthin zeaxanthin Cis-violaxanthin lutein Vit A*

0.10 0.20 0.10 0.40 0.20 0.40 0.40

0.20 0.10 0.10 0.40 0.60 0.70 0.40

0.07 0.05 0.10 0.10 0.16 1.20 0.20

0 2 .

Corsica

V.Cuba

V.Cors1

V.Cors2

V.Cors3 V.Tahiti

V.CostaR

V.NCal

V

V..CCuubbaa

V.NCal: Valencia New Caledonia; V.CostaR: Valencia Costa Rica.

Figure 1. Classification of Valencia orange juices from five different origins.

The tree was constructed according to the Neighbour-joining method using Euclidean distances.

1. DHUIQUE-MAYER C., CARIS-VEYRAT C., OLLITRAULT P., CURK F. , AMIOT M.J.

(2005) Varietal and interspecific influence on micronutrient contents in citrus from the Mediterranean area.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 53, 2140-2145.

Reference

Effect of genotype and geographical origins on

carotenoid content from Citrus sweet orange juices

-1 -0,8 -0,6 -0,4 -0,2 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1

-1 -0,5 0 0,5 1

-- axe F1 (79 %) -->

-1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5

- 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 0 1 2 3 4

--axisF2(9%)--> --axisF2(9%)-->

Corsica Tropical zones

Factorial map of samples (F1 x F2 plane : 88 %) Correlation circle

-- axe F1 (79 %) -->

San.NC

Per.BR

Val.NC Val.CR

Val.TA

Val.CU

Val.C5

Val.C3

Val.C4

lutein

zeaxanthin violaxanthin β−carotene phytofluene

β−cryptoxanthin phytoene

Per.C5 San.C5

San.C3

San.C4 Per.C3

0 2 4 6

beta- cryptoxanthin

violaxanthin

zeaxanthin

lutein beta-carotene

phytoene phytofluene

New Caledonia Corsica

Figure 2. Orange juice origin differentiation according to PCA based on seven carotenoids as variables.

Per: Pera oranges; San: Sanguinelli oranges; Val: Valencia oranges. BR: Brazil; C3: Corsica year 1;

C4: Corsica year 2; C5: Corsica year 3; CR: Costa Rica; CU: Cuba; NC: New Caledonia; TA: Tahiti.

C ^onclusion

O

^UR results underlined the importance of environmental factors in carotenoid synthesis and accumulation in citrus fruits. Interactions between Citrus accessions and environmental

conditions may occur with respect to carotenoid biosynthesis in juice sacs. We suggest that environmental conditions play a major role on the concentration of secondary metabolites of

nutritional interest, such as β-cryptoxanthin, the main provitamin A carotenoid in orange citrus juices.

Figure 3. “Radar” chart showing variations in carotenoid profiles of orange with respect to origins

(New Caledonia, Corsica 2005).

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