2003 Volume 50 Issue 7 Pages 324-326
We examined "Sarara" (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Sarara) which is a new kind of sweet pepper and discussed the change of the carotenoid composition in its mature process. The following results were obtained. (1) β-Carotene existed in all of the sweet peppers which were taken between 2 and 10 weeks after flowering. (2) The sweet peppers taken between 2 and 6 weeks after flowering contained β-carotene and lutein. The content decreased gradually. (3) In the sweet pepper of the seventh week after flowering all lutein was lost. The quantity of zeaxanthin and capsanthin rapidly increased. It increased until the ninth week and began to decrease in the tenth week. The quantity of capsanthin in the ninth week after flowering was 19000μg/100g, which was 60% of the content of total carotenoid. (4) When both capsanthin and β-carotene existed in "Sarara", capsanthin and β-carotene were contained with the fixed rate: 1:10.