COMPARISON OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT CARROT VARIETIES

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is a globally significant root vegetable, rich in bioactive and nutritional compounds. Carrot is a crop with a wide range of phenotypic variability including colour, shape, size, and other characteristics. The aim of this work was to determine and compare selected morphological traits and chemical composition of 24 carrot varieties grown under open field conditions in Slovakia. Altogether, 11 qualitative characteristics and 6 quantitative parameters were evaluated. The carrot roots were also analysed for essential chemical constituents including reducing sugars (fructose, glucose, saccharose), carotenoids, dietary fibre, dry matter, ash, and mineral compounds. A wide range of diversity in morphological characteristics and chemical composition indicates a high variability of studied varieties. The root length ranged from 59 to 205 mm, root diameter varied from 17.7 to 39.0 mm and root weight ranged from 21.0 to 74.8 g. Based on the measurement results, saccharose was the dominant sugar ranging from 1.89 to 4.67 g.100 g-1 of fresh weight, carotenoid content varied from 85.94 to 374.24 µg.g-1 of fresh weight, the amount of dietary fibre ranged from  25.67 to 36.02% of dry matter. Considerable differences were also observed in the content of macro and microelements [mg.100 g-1] ranging as follows:  P (17.5 - 52.0), K (110.0 – 337.0), Na (65.9 – 186.0), Fe (0.324 – 3.340), Cu (0.042 – 0.126), Zn (0.152 – 0.945) and Mn (0.062 – 0.189). The presented results can provide useful information for carrot growers and consumers in terms of morphological characteristics as well as the chemical composition of individual carrot varieties.