Studies on Citrus Carotenoids

Part. IV. Carotenoid pattern of various citrus peels

Abstract

Similarity of carotenoid pattern was compared among various kinds of citrus peels. There were four typical carotenoid patterns.
The pattern of citrus peel greatly depends on the content of monol and diol-diepoxide carotenoids. Some peels contained unknown carotenoid which characterized bright red colour.
Typical four carotenoid patterns are as follows; monol predominant "Yatsushiro type", ; dioldiepoxide predominant "Valencia orange type", ; monol and diol-diepoxide predominant "Unshiu type", and unknown carotenoid predominant "Cleopatra type".
The relation between the carotenoid pattern and the morphological classification of citrus fruit was discussed. Most of the morphologically same citrus fruit were found to show the same carotenoid pattern.
The carotenoid pattern will be one of the subsidiary methods for the classification of citrus fruit.