(246) Crude Lipid Content and Its Relationship to Carotenoid and Tocopherol Concentration in Carrot (Daucus carota)

Abstract

Carrot has been bred for increased levels of pro-vitamin E α-tocopherol. This vitamin is lipid soluble. Carrot root has been shown to have measurable levels of lipid, but it is not certain if the lipid level is correlated to α-tocopherol levels. The HPLC method is needed to quantify levels of α-tocopherol. Measuring lipids may be less time consuming in a breeding program. We developed a method for extracting lipids from carrot tissue based on the Soxhlet extraction method. The Soxhlet extraction uses a non-polar ether solvent to pull lipids out of freeze-dried tissue. A collection of carrot accessions ranging in α-tocopherol concentration 0.04–0.18 ppm and carotenoid concentration 10.63–1673.76 ppm were used in this investigation. Root tissue was freeze-dried and lipid levels were measured in an experiment with two replications. The mean lipid level of root tissue was 0.05 g fat/g tissue. The range was 0–1.1 g fat/g tissue. Phenotypic correlations were performed among lipid, α-tocopherol, and β-carotene concentrations in these samples. Twenty-four samples were tested for lipid levels (12 high and 12 low). From these results, percent lipid of the root was determined. Correlations were made between the lipid data and α-tocopherol data of the given samples.