Ascorbate and Carotenoid Content in an Indian Collection of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch. ex Poir.)

Abstract

Cucurbita moschata Duch. ex Poir. (pumpkin) is grown throughout tropical and sub tropical countries. In India, pumpkin is the principal ingredient of several culinary vegetables utilized at the immature and mature fruit stage. Pumpkin provides a valuable source of carotenoids and ascorbic acid that have a major role in nutrition in the form of provitamin A and vitamin C as antioxidants, when used at ripening stage or after storage. Content of caroteniods in Spanish pumpkin was higher than that of other pumpkin varieties and even higher than that of beta carotene in carrots (5). In India, consumers prefer dark yellow color, round shape fruit with thick and deep yellow internal flesh colour (personal communication). Indian farmers generally grow their own saved seeds of land races because commercially produced seed is not easily available. Therefore, exploration and collection of pumpkin germplasm was done from main pumpkin growing areas of India with the objective of screening the pumpkin lines having high ascorbic acid and caroteniod content for further improvement in pumpkin quality (6).