Changes in the Biochemical Constituents of Carrot Roots Due to Bacterial Soft Rot

Carrot is a rich source of nutrients. The carrot contains carotene and lycopene, which gives bright color to the roots. The quality of the carrots was assessed based on the carotene, lycopene and other biochemical constituents like sugars, starch and protein. To study the effect of various isolates of the Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora on the above biochemical constituents, the pathogens were inoculated and the contents were analyzed separately at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 days after inoculation. The contents of β-carotene increased significantly due to all the three isolates of the pathogen and the Coimbatore isolate recorded highest of 36.03 per cent. A same trend was also observed in the lycopene content with 93.55 per cent increase over control. The contents of total and reducing sugars were found to significantly increase due to inoculation with the pathogen. The starch content showed a decreasing trend in all the isolates tested. The maximum reduction of 62.98 per cent was observed in the roots inoculated with Coimbatore isolate.