Considerations to prevent the breakdown and loss of fruit carotenoids during extraction and analysis in Musa

The impact of treatments aimed at improving the robustness of protocols for the analysis of carotenoids in fruit of banana and plantain were examined. Neither the inclusion of polyvinylpolypyrrolidine in the extraction buffer, nor vigorous homogenisation with glass beads influenced recoveries or chromatographic profiles. By contrast, heating lead to losses of up to 53% and to the formation of degradation products that are no longer detectable on our RP-HPLC system. Carotenoid extracts are unstable and most sensitive to exposure to light. However, even in the dark at -20 degrees C and in the presence of antioxidants breakdown rates of around 5% per day were observed.