Composition of carotenoids in calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) flowers
2014
Sausserde, R., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Agriculture. Inst. of Agrobiotechnology | Kampuss, K., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Agriculture. Inst. of Agrobiotechnology
Calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is a medicinal plant and its flowers are used as important ingredient of pharmaceutical and food production. Most calendula research has been focused on extraction and pharmaceutical properties of bioactive compounds from flowers. Fresh calendula flowers are suggested to use as edible flowers but dried flowers – as an herbal tea and as condiment of food. Calendula accumulates large amounts of carotenoids in its flowers. The yellow and orange colour of petals is mostly due to the carotenoids and the shade depends on the quantity and composition of pigments. Carotenoids are known as biologically active compounds with multiple applications in therapy. It is important to humans as precursors of vitamin A and retinoids. Major factors that impact differences in the amount of total carotenoids in calendula flowers is reported to be the plant variety, colour of the ligulate and tubular florets, the place of cultivation and time of harvesting. Nowadays many important carotenoids are used as pigments – food colorants in the food industry. Carotenoids composition in calendula flowers has been recently begun to explore and in future the scientific research on calendula will be increased. In this review, existing information of carotenoids composition in calendula flowers depending of variety are explored, as well as carotenoids multi-activity and usage of calendula flowers are highlight.
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