2.6. Total carotenoids
Total carotenoids were estimated following the method of Lalel et al. (2003). Briefly, 2 g of fruit pulp from a mixture of 15 fruit in each treatment was ground with 0.05 g of magnesium carbonate and extracted two times with a 20 mL of acetone:n-hexane [75:60, v/v]. The pool extract was washed with a 40 mL of 10% NaCl and 2 × 40 mL of distilled water to remove acetone. The n-hexane extract was measured for its absorbance at 436 nm using UV-VIS Spectrophotometer (Varioskan Flash Multimode Reader, Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). Total carotenoids were expressed as mg−1 g of -carotene equivalent to a standard curve of -carotene.