Cucurbitacin C - Bitter Principle in Cucumber Plants

Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly
ISSN 00213551
NII recode ID (NCID) AA0068709X
Full text
41-01-09.pdf340.41 KB

Cucumber plants contain a bitter substance, cucurbitacin C. The compound was isolated from cucumber leaves using preparatory HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) to investigate the relationship between its content and bitterness of the plant parts. An analytical method for cucurbitacin C using HPLC was also established. A Japanese popular cultivar, ‘Sharp 1’ contained the compound in the leaves but not in the fruits, while a unique cultivar with white skin ‘Shinsyo Hakuhi’ contained it both in leaves and fruits. The stem end of ‘Shinsyo Hakuhi’ fruit contained higher amounts of it than other fruit parts. Cucurbitacin C is a strongly bitter component and its threshold level was less than 0.1 mg/L. The bitter sensation felt when biting the plant parts could be interpreted as corresponding to the content of cucurbitacin C.

Date of issued
Creator HORIE Hideki ITO Hidekazu IPPOUSHI Katsunari AZUMA Keiko SAKATA Yoshiteru IGARASHI Isamu
Subject

analysis

Cucumis sativus L.

HPLC

isolation

Publisher Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Available Online
NII resource type vocabulary Journal Article
Volume 41
Issue 1
spage 65
epage 68
DOI 10.6090/jarq.41.65
Rights Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Language eng

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