Agronomic and nutritional characteristics of a local and a hybrid
carrot cultivar grown in Pakistan and in the UK
1Tanveer
Ahmad, 1Muhammad Amjad and 2Kirsten Brandt
1Institute
Location
FSD
NCL
Avg.
Tem
p
(°C)
Jan
Feb
Mar
Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø
May
Jun
e
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Max.
19.
4
22.
4
27.4
Min.
4.8
7.6
12.6
18.3
24.1
27.6
29.9
27.2
24.5
17.7
10.4
6.1
Max.
6.2
6.7
9.0
11.2
14.5
17.5
19.8
19.6
16.7
13.0
9.0
7.5
Min.
0.6
0.8
2.1
3.4
5.7
8.5
10.7
10.3
8.6
6.0
3.1
1.5
2 Labourers per acre
Per Month Income per
Labourer
Approx. Rs./ 12,000
This income is approximately double as compared to
the local salary for such persons, which starts from Rs.
4500/ per month from other employment sources.
39.7
41.0
37.7
36.5
36.6
33.9
28.2
60
Agronomic Characteristics
50
Oranza Ncl
Oranza Pk
T-29 Ncl
T-29 Pk
40
30
Table 2: Demographic Profile of Carrot Grower
Characteristics
Level
%age
1
Education
Illiterate
25.8
Literate*
60.8
Matric & above
13.3
Up to 30 years
25.8
31-40 years
59.2
41 years & above
15.0
Male
100
Female
0
3
Gender
1
1
0.1
0.1
0.01
0
15
2
30
45
0.01
60
0
Days
0
T-29
NCL
T-29
PK
Oranza
NCL
T-29
Oranza
PK
9
8
Lutein
7
Lycopene
6
α-carotene
5
β-carotene
45
α-carotene 10
βcarotene
Lycopene
1
1
0.1
0.1
0
15
30
45
60
Days
0
15
30
45
Days
Bars show Standard Error of the Mean
2
1
0
T-29
T-29
Oranza
Oranza
NCL
PK
NCL
PK
*Attended school but left before completing matriculation, and can read and
write.
Table 3. Cultivation and Management
Area under Carrot Cultivation
per Farm
1 – 5 Acres (68.5%)
Experience of Grower
1-5 Years (46.7%)
Type of Seed
Local (90%)
Bars show Standard Error of the Mean
10
0
Root Length (cm)
Diameter (mm)
Leaf Height (cm)
No. of Leaves
Dry Biomass (%)
Discussion and Conclusions
Fresh biomass of roots and leaves
200
Oranza
Ncl
Oranza Pk
150
T-29 Ncl
100
50
0
Root
Leaves
Bars show Standard Error of the Mean
60
Oranza
Lutein
10
4
3
15
30
Days
20
Sr. No
Age
Oranza
10
4
The consumers prefer
red carrots to orange
ones
22.1
Falcarinol
6
Falcarindiol-3acetate
Falcarinol
10
Falcarindiol-3-acetate
8
Which support would be most Better seeds of red
valuable to improve the
cultivars
cultivation?
Dec
Falcarindiol
T-29
Falcarindiol
10
Table 5. Growers’ preferences for support
Why must they be red?
Fig 3. Effect of storage at 4.5°C on composition
of two carrot varieties grown in the UK
12
Fig. 1. Agronomic Characteristics
34.2
Results
2
Fig. 2. Content of bioactive compounds
in carrots grown in Pakistan or the UK
mg100g-1 fresh weight
Average No. of Labourers
Fresh weight (g)
Ø
ACS, Advisory Committee on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention Guidelines on diet,
nutrition, and cancer prevention: reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and
physical activity. CA Cancer J Clin, 1996. 46: p. 325-341
Ali, M. and Abedullah. 2002. Nutritional and economic benefits of enhanced vegetable
production and consumption. Journal of Crop Production. 6(1/2): 145-176.
Brandt K et al. (2004). Health promoting compounds in vegetables and fruits. A systematic
approach for identifying plant components with impact on human health. Trends Food
Science and Technology 15, 384-393.
Butt, S. M., M. U. Arshad, M. S. Alam and M. T. Nadeem. 2007. Bioavailability and storage
stability of vitamin A fortificant (retinyl acetate) in fortified cookies. Food Research
International, 40: 1212–1219.
MINFAL. 2008. Economic Survey of Pakistan, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.
Samie, A., Abedullah, M. Ahmed and S. Kouser. 2010.Economics of conventional and
partial organic farming systems and implications for resource utilization in Punjab
(Pakistan). Pakistan Economic and Social Review.48(2);245-260.
Apr
61,000-80,000
(Rs.acre-1)
mg100g-1 fresh weight
Table 1. Historical average Max. and Min. Temperature of
Faisalabad and Newcastle upon Tyne (carrot season in yellow)
Total Income per Farm from
Carrots
mg 100g-1
v  A survey of 120 carrots growers in the 4 leading carrot
production districts in Punjab Province of Pakistan was
conducted.
v Carrots were grown organically in 2009-10 at University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and Newcastle University,
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
v Agronomic characteristics were recorded.
v Some of the carrots grown in the UK were stored for up to
two months at 4.5°C (to simulate refrigeration in the home).
v Freeze dried material from both sites was analysed by
HPLC for polyacetylenes (falcarindiol, falcarindiol-3-acetate
and falcarinol) and carotenoids (lutein, lycopene, alphacarotene and beta-carotene) at Newcastle University.
References
Ø
Table 4. Income from Carrot Growing
Methods and Materials
Introduction
Ø In Pakistan, carrot ranks third among winter vegetables
with an area of 13,900 ha and total production of 242,300
tonnes of roots (MINFAL, 2008), in addition the leaves
are important as animal feed.
Ø Pakistan is an impoverished and underdeveloped country
where per capita vegetable consumption is 35 kg/person/
annum (Samie et al., 2010) compared to 155 kg/person/
annum in Korea.
Ø The minimum recommended vegetable intake to provide
sufficient amounts of vitamins C and A is 73 kg/capita/
annum (Ali and Abedullah, 2002), while at least 146 kg/
annum (5 portions per day) is recommended for optimum
health (ACS 1996).
Ø Carrots are excellent sources of nutritionally important
compounds, including the orange pigment β-carotene
which is a precursor of vitamin A, and the possible anticancer polyacetylene falcarinol (Brandt et al. 2004).
Ø Some carrot varieties additionally contain lycopene which
causes a red colour.
Ø In Pakistan, vitamin A deficiency is alarmingly high and
correlated with higher child death (Butt et al., 2007).
Ø There is thus an urgent need to increase the production
of vegetable crops in general and carrots in particular.
Ø However, there is little knowledge of the effect of different
climatic conditions on the agronomic and nutritional
quality of the same cultivars of carrot.
Ø Due to this a project was designed to investigate the
effect of different conditions on the agronomic and
nutritional quality of two types of carrots (T-29, Red,
Open Pollinated) and Oranza (F1 Hybrid, orange, Nantes
Type).
of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-Pakistan. 38040
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, UK
mg100g-1
2School
Ø Based on the observations, it was observed that carrot cultivation is a profitable business,
which benefits both growers (for income) and consumers (for healthy and appreciated food).
Ø The results suggested that T-29 is best suited to Pakistan climate while Oranza performs
better in UK climatic conditions.
Ø For most of the measured characteristics the effect of climate is as great as the difference
between the varieties.
Ø The contents of polyacetylenes and carotenes other than lycopene are higher in Oranza as
compared to T-29.
Ø The nutritional quality deteriorates substantially after harvest, even if kept at a typical
refrigeration temperature, before any deterioration in appearance of the product.
Ø High quality/hybrid seed of locally adapted varieties with red colour is not available to the
growers in Pakistan, nor in other countries in the region with similar climate and consumer
preferences.
60