Carotenoids and anthocyanins in Jamaican sweet potato cultivars: segregation and nutritional profiling

Aim: Because sweet potato is an important staple food crop worldwide, particularly in developing countries, the cultivar has a great influence on the nutritional quality and storage capability of the roots. The aim of this study was to characterize and segregate the sweet potato diversity of 18 selected cultivars grown in Jamaica. Methods: Quality attributes were estimated by determining carotenoids, anthocyanins, dry matter, and ash, parameters used to characterize eighteen (18) different cultivars of sweet potato phenotypically. ANOVA and LSD analyses were used to analyse data. Furthermore, PCA and HCA analyses were used to compare and segregate the studied cultivars. Results: Results showed that four cultivars contained more than 10 μg/g fresh weight of carotenoids, and in nine cultivars, anthocyanin content was higher than 500 μg/g fresh weight. Dry matter varied from 21.96% to 46.46%, and ash content ranged from 0.09 to 1.2%. The segregation of the cultivars revealed two principal components, with PC1 explaining 45.9% and PC2 explaining 33.7%. The classification based on their nutritional contents showed PC1 explaining 38.9% and PC2 explaining 35.1% of the total variance. On the other hand, HCA and heatmapping evidenced the presence of three main groups, namely anthocyanins, carotenoids, and ash. Conclusions: The findings of this study advanced our existing knowledge on the numerous cultivars of sweet potato grown in Jamaica and validated the diversity of their nutritional profile. From these data, we can recommend that some cultivars of sweet potato are suitable for processing and could also contribute significantly to improving local human nutrition.