Total carotenoids content was determined by the spectrophotometric method at 470 nm, which was adapted from Talcott and Howard (1999) using a β-carotene (0.001–0.005 mg/mL) standard curve. The total carotenoids content was expressed based on β-carotene equivalents (β-carotene; mg/100 g fresh mass). Additional dilution was done if the absorbance value measured was over the linear range of the standard curve.