Historical tracing and nutritional value of carrots

Carrots are a kind of vegetable grown around the world, mainly for eating its roots. Studies have shown that orange carrots in the East come from yellow varieties, while orange carrots in China come from red varieties. Therefore, in the spread of the original Asian carrot varieties, different and independent processes may have led to the development of orange carrots in China.


Carrots are orange because their carrot crowns absorb certain wavelengths of light more effectively than other wavelengths. β-carotene is the main pigment, mainly absorbed in the 400-500nm region of the visible spectrum. Carotenoids are one of the most important natural pigments. They cause the yellow or orange color of many fruits and vegetables.


The time range and geographic area of the first planting of carrots is not yet clear. The “Studies on the Origin of Cultivated Plants” identified Asia Minor as the origin center of cultivated carrots, and pointed out Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, are “the Asian centers of cultivated carrots”. It is speculated that wild carrot seeds are used medicinally or as a spice.


Carrots, known as Daucus Carota are one of the main vegetables grown in temperate climates.
The nutritional value of carrots depends on the content of total sugars and monosaccharides, carotenoids and vitamins (including vitamin C) in the roots. Carotenoids include α and β-carotene, zeatin, lutein and lycopene. β-carotene is one of the most biologically active carotenoids and can be used as provitamin A.


On the other hand, for cooking suitability and year-round availability, carrots are mainly used for direct consumption, followed by raw materials for food and industrial processing. Raw carrots are an important source of human nutrition. The content of carotenoids, sugars, vitamins, minerals and fiber are important for determining the nutritional value of carrot roots.


The quality of carrot roots depends on the genetic characteristics of the variety, the environmental conditions during the growing season and the final storage period, and all agricultural technical decisions made by the grower to protect and increase crop yields. In 2009-2011, field trials were conducted involving the effects of biostimulants applied during the vegetation period of carrots on selected nutrients in their roots.
The introduction of biostimulants into various modern plant production technologies provides inspiration for direct research on determining the best biostimulant dosage in carotene cultivation.

References

A numerical taxonomy of the Daucus Carota Complex, E Small. 1978
Relationship and Evolution in the Daucus Carota Complex, V H Heywood. 1983
Studies in the Origin of cultivated plants, NI Vavilov. 1926
Agricultural Afghanistan, NI Vavilov and DD BukinichVavilov. 1924
Evolution of Crop Plants, J Smarrt & N W Simmonds. 1976
“Carrots History” , Carrot Museum. 2009
Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Hortorum Cultus, Polish carrot cultivars.
Effects of genotype, soil type, year and fertilisation on sensory and morphological attributes of carrots (Daucus carota L.),2012.
Chemical composition, functional properties and processing of carrot, Sharma,Kd; Karki,S; Thakur,Ns; Attri,S. 2012.
The effect of nitrogen fertilizer form and foliar application on the concentrations of twenty-five elements in carrot, Smolen,S; Sady,W. 2009.
P and K accumulation by rapeseed as affected by biostimulant under different NPK and S fertilization doses. Szczepanek,M; Siwik-Ziomek,A. 2019.