CarotenoidsCarotenoids are pigments insoluble in water and soluble in apo-lar solvents like hexane. The carotenoids content was evaluated bySoto-Zamora et al. (2005) method. 10 mL of solvent mixture (hex-ane, acetone and ethanol, 1:5/2:5/2, v/v/v) were added to 0.5 g ofdried powder. After 3 min of stirring, 1 mL of potassium hydrox-ide (KOH, 1 M) was added and the mixture was incubated during40 min, then the absorbance of upper phase was determined at450 nm. -Carotene was used as the standard and the results wereexpressed as mg -carotene equivalent per 100 g of dry powder(mg CE/100 g DP).