Assessment of French marigold genotypes for different biochemical constituents.

Ten genotypes of French marigold were evaluated for extraction of pigments like carotenes, xanthophylls and chlorophylls at Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. This study was aimed at finding out some suitable genotypes of French marigold having higher recovery of carotenoid and chlorophyll pigments. Flowers were plucked at full bloom stage and kept in open space at ambient conditions. Column chromatography method was employed to extract natural pigments. Maximum total carotenes (69.83 mg/100 g), xanthophylls (305.48 mg/100 g) and di-hydroxy pigments (171.55 mg/100 g) were recorded in genotype 109-1-2, while maximum mono-hydroxy pigments were reported in genotype 26-3-1 (107.82 mg/100 g) followed by genotype 8-2 (104.99 mg/100 g). Chlorophyll 'a' was found higher in genotype 26-2-2 (3.68 mg/100 g) followed by genotype 26-3-1 (3.39 mg/100 g), while chlorophyll 'b' (6.16 mg/100 g) and total chlorophyll (9.48 mg/100 g) were recorded higher in genotype 26-2-2-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]