Background : Carotenoids are pigments that are found in plants, fruits, bacteria, and fungi. β -carotene and canthaxanthin are orange pigments among thousands of carotenoids that possess potent antioxidant activity. The objective of this study was to determine β-carotene and cantaxanthin in 55 Kimchi cabbage germplasm using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method.
Method and Results : 55 Kimchi cabbage accessions were sown in plug trays in the end of August, 2016. All the tissue samples were freeze-dried for 1 week and ground into fine powder and stored at -20℃ until analysis. Crude carotenoids from freeze-dried materials (100 mg) were extracted using 1 ㎖ of 100% (v/v) hexane in 10 minutes by using sonication bath followed by centrifugation. The average β-carotene contents was 1.43 ㎎·㎏-1 and ranged from 0.76 (IT 120045) to 2.25 ㎎·㎏-1 (IT 100378). The average canthaxanthin content in the entire domain of sample was 0.59 ㎎·㎏-1 with a range between 0.36 (IT 32746) and 1.08 ㎎․㎏-1 (IT 100386). Canthaxanthin content was significantly positively correlated with β-carotene (r = 0.65**) and leaf length (r = 0.63**). However, canthaxanthin was negatively correlated with cotyledon color (r = -0.41**). Principal component analysis results of the first two components (PC1 and PC2) explained 44.53% of the point variability.
Conclusion : The resources with the highest β-carotene and canthaxanthin content are IT 100378, 100386, 100391, and 110828. This study could be useful to select a potential sources of health beneficial carotenoids (β-carotene and canthaxanthin) in Kimchi cabbage germplasm in nutraceutical formulations and for further applications as a breeding material and other research activities.