INVESTIGATION OF VITAMIN CONTENT IN APRICOT CULTIVARS AND WILD APRICOT GROWN AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES

Vitamins are one of the most important micro elements of our daily food chain which are known to have action mechanisms on devastating diseases such as cancer and cardiac diseases. In our study, vitamin contents in the samples of Hacihaliloglu, Kabaasi, Cataloglu cultivars and wild apricot grown at the altitudes of 1490 m and 825 m in Malatya were detected by using UV-DAD detector and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) device. According to the obtained results, Beta carotene, Retinol, Vitamin E, Lycopen and Vitamin C (μg/g dry matter) were examined in all apricot samples. Vitamin content of apricot cultivars and wild apricot samples were found statistically (P<0.05) different to each other and the highest content was found in the samples taken from 1490 m altitude. Among all apricot cultivars, the highest vitamin C content was determined in Cataloglu (22622 μg/dry matter) samples, whereas the lowest vitamin E content was found in Kabaasi (20.9 μg/dry matter) samples.