Biochemical Composition of Some Local Pumpkin Population

This study aims at investigating the nutritional value of the pumpkin fruits from different local populations of the Cucurbita pepo L., C. maxima Duch. and C. moschata Duch. ex Poir species. The chosen cultivars were: P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6 of local populations from Oltenia, Romania namely from Dolj and Olt counties. The pumpkin culture was established in the teaching field of the Faculty of Horticulture in Craiova. The chemical analysis of the pumpkin fruits was carried out using standard methods. There were determined: the dry matter content, the soluble substance content, the total carotenoid content, the antioxidant activity through the DPPH and Trolox method. There have also been studied the correlation coefficients between the quality parameters using the multiple correlation coefficients. The results show differences in the studied quality parameters. There was observed that the “Local population 6” has the highest total carotenoid content of 6.587 mg/100 f.m. and the local population 1 has the highest antioxidant activity of 0.284 mmol/l Trolox.