Vedomax Edible Carrot Seeds – Beej Gajar – Daucus Carota

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is the most important crop of Apiaceae family. It is a root vegetable that has worldwide distribution. Carrots were first used for medical purposes and gradually used as food. Written records in Europe indicated that carrots were cultivated prior to the tenth century. The colors of the carrot root flesh may be white, yellow, orange, red, purple, or very dark purple. The first cultivated carrots were yellow and purple fleshed cultivars. Orange carrots, today more popular, were developed in the 15th and 16th centuries in Central Europe. A rapid rise in the popularity of orange carrots was observed with the recognition of its high provitamin A content [1] . Carotenoids and anthocyanins are the major antioxidant pigments found in carrots. Cultivar differences in carrots rely in the type of pigments present. Carotenoids are the yellow, orange, or red colored phytochemicals found in most yellow and orange fleshed cultivars. The widely used orange carrot is high in α- and β-carotene and is a rich source of provitamin A. Yellow carrot color is due to lutein which plays an important role in prevention of macular degeneration [2] [3] . The red water-soluble anthocyanin pigment and the red water- insoluble lycopene pigment present in the roots of some cultivars do not contribute to the provitamin A content. Red carrot color is due to its high lycopene content [3] . Meanwhile anthocyanin-rich carrots are purple [4] . White flesh cultivars contain very little pigments. The carotene content of the orange and yellow fleshed cultivars increases with growth. The cortical region contains more carotenes than the core. Overall carotenoid levels, have increased dramatically in the past four decades through traditional breeding to reach levels of 1000 ppm carotenoids, on a fresh weight basis [2] [3] [5] . Besides, comparing to other vegetables, carrots can provide in the human diet significant amount of vitamin A due to the high bioavailability of carrot carotenoids .