Abstract

MARTINEZ GIRON, Jader  and  ORDONEZ SANTOS, Luis Eduardo. Determination of carotenoid pigments in palm pear fruit (Bactris gasipaes) waste flour. Rev. P+L [online]. 2016, vol.11, n.1, pp.85-93. ISSN 1909-0455.

Introduction. The waste of palm pear fruit are byproducts generated after its consumption and/or industrial transformation. In Valle del Cauca, Colombia, the palm pear fruit´s mesocarp is traditionally cooked and consumed with salt or sugar. Nevertheless, the waste generated (peel) is usually thrown away. Objective. Determine the composition of the carotenoid pigments that give the characteristic color to the flour obtained from this fruit, in order to consider its use as a natural colorant. Materials and methods. The identification and quantification of the carotenoids was achieved by the use of a YMC column, reversed-phase column of carotenoids S-5 C30 (4.60 mm × 150 mm: particle size, 5 µm), in a HPLC equipment using a DAD detector with 450nm wavelength. Results. The results obtained in the flour demonstrated that there are: violaxanthin (1.35 ± 0.10 µg/g), lutein (4.87 ± 0.20 µg/g), zeaxanthin (4.37 ± 0.20 µg/g), 15-cis β carotene (3.86 ± 1.40 µg/g), 13-cis β carotene (25.12 ± 0.23 µg/g), All-trans β carotene (125.43 ± 3.20 µg/g), 9-cis β carotene (17.10 ± 0.38 µg/g) and α-carotene (12.59 ± 2.80 µg/g). Conclusion. Palm pear fruit´s flour is an important source of carotenoids, especially All-trans β carotene, a carotenoid pigment that can be an important source of provitamin A and also be a natural colorant for food industries. On the other hand, this is one of the first studies on carotenoids quantification in palm pear fruit´s epicarp flour.

Keywords : β-carotene; natural colorant; epicarp; extraction; palm pear fruit.

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