Chlorophyll and Carotenoid Patterns of Middle Eastern Date (Phoenix dactylifera) Fruit at Different Maturity Stages

Lipophilic pigments of the date varieties 'Anbra', 'Megadwel', 'Sfwaf' and 'Sacaf' were characterized by HPLC-DAD-APCIMS n considering the four progressing ripening stages 'Kimri' (green-ripe), 'Khalal' (breaker), 'Rutab' (brown-ripe) and 'Tamr' (thy-ripe). The prevailing carotenoids in green-ripe and breaker fruits were (all-E)-lutein and (all-E)-beta-carotene, in addition to the minor constituents (all-E)-violaxanthin, (all-E)-neoxanthin and (all-E)-zeaxanthin. Most abundant carotenoids in brown-ripe fruits were beta-carotene isomers and (all-E)-lutein. Only the early maturity stages contained chlorophylls a and b, summing up to 820-1,282 and 340-878 mu g/100 g of fresh weight (FW) in dates harvested at the 'Kimri' and 'Khalal' stage, respectively. Total carotenoids were in the range of 283-411 ('Kimri') and dropped to 230-300 ('Khalal') and 90-231 mu g/100 g of FW ('Rutab') with progressing maturation. Among the fully ripe 'Tamr' fruits, merely those harvested from cv. 'Megadwel' contained 30 mu g/100 g total carotenoids on a FW basis. The two edible fruit maturity stages 'Khalal' and 'Rutab' represented valuable nutritional sources of the macular carotenoid lutein as well as of beta-carotene. At the present concentrations, the latter endows dates with a provitamin A content similar to that of oranges and pineapples. (C) 2020 Friends Science Publishers