Constituents of the cotton bud: XII. The carotenoids in buds, seeds and other tissue.

Eleven carotenoid pigments were found in the bud, leaf, flower petal, seedling and seed of the cotton plant; nine were identified and quantitated. The most abundant carotenoids in the green tissue of the cotton plant were beta-carotene and lutein. Carotene hydrocarbons comprised 12% of the total carotenoids in the seed, 15% in the 1-day-old flower petal, 51% in the bud and 57% in green leaves. Only 5,8-epoxy carotenoids were found in the flower petals and only 5,6-epoxides in the other tissue but both were present in the seed. The colorless phytoene precursors to the carotenoids comprised from 20% to 38% of the total carotenoid pigment in the growing tissue of the plant.