A Survey of Composition and Content of Carotenoids, Sugars, and Ascorbic Acid in Watermelons with Various Flesh Colors

About 40 watermelon samples with various flesh colors (red, pink, orange, and yellow) were tested for their carotene, sugar, and ascorbic acid contents. Carotenoids were separated and purified by using a preparative HPLC system and identified by comparing the spectra with standard compounds by using a diode array detector. Sugar and ascorbic acid contents were measured by HPLC methods. Red and pink colored watermelon contained lycopene as the major carotenoid, with a wide range of variation (5 to 51 μg·g-1). Beta-carotene was the second major carotenoid and was less than 6 μg·g-1. There were also lutein and violazanthin in less than 1.5 μg·g-1 range. Yellow and orange flesh watermelons contained a complex mixture of carotenes. Prolycopene, lycopene, or beta-carotene was the major component, depending on the variety, and the contents were less than 24, 3, and 9 μg·g-1, respectively. There were also minor carotenoids, such as violaxanthin, lutein, neurosporene, zea-carotene with a 0 to 3.5 μg·g-1 range. Neurosporene, zea-carotene, and prolycopene were not found in the red watermelons. There was great variation in total sugar content, range being from 22 to 102 mg-1, while the °Brix was from 4.0 to 15.5. Sucrose, glucose, and fructose were the main sugars in the watermelon and their composition were grouped as sucrose-dominant or fructose-dominant groups. Some varieties with very low levels of sucrose were generally low in the total sugar content. Watermelon contained fairly low levels of ascorbic acid, less than 58 μg·g-1 and some varieties had nearly no ascorbic acid. Estimation of total carotenoid in the yellow watermelons by measuring absorbency at 435, 485, or 503 nm was tested and 435 nm showed the highest correlation coefficient (r2 =0.845).