Comparative Study of Carotenoids and Mineral Composition in Five Different Pulp Colours of Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.)

Jackfruit is one of the most versatile, tropical to temperate climate tolerant, underutilized evergreen tree species, found growing naturally in Western Ghats region of South as well as North Eastern Hilly regions of India. The tree has several economic uses, yields are very high, leaves are used as feed/ fodder for animals, wood has good timber value and fruits are nutritious, rich in carotenoids and minerals. The fruits exhibit varied pulp colours, among them the orange and red colour pulp has good commercial demand. Hence, a study was under taken to assess the carotenoids content and mineral composition in five different pulp colours of Jackfruit. Results revealed that, the red and orange colour pulp contained significantly higher concentrations of -Cryptoxanthine (45.44mg/100g and 42.57mg/100g) followed by -Carotene (44.20mg/100g and 43.14mg/100g) -Carotene (39.40mg/100g 37.30mg/100g) and Lycopene (30.20mg/100g and 27.70mg/100g) respectively. The mineral composition analysis revealed that the potassium content was higher (326.47mg/100g) in dark yellow colour pulp followed by red colour pulp (322.70mg/100g) and orange colour pulp (216.07g/100g). However, there were no significant differences in the concentrations of sodium, manganese, zinc, iron and copper among different pulp colours.