The vitamin and selenium contents of apricot fruit of different varieties cultivated in different geographical regions

High-pressure liquid chromatographic and fluorometric methods were utilized to determine the vitamin (A, C, E and β-carotene) and selenium levels in apricot fruit. The vitamins (A, C, and E), β-carotene and selenium levels of both fresh and sulphurized (sulphur-dried) apricot fruit from several common cultivars and wild type, grown in different regions, were analysed. The effects of post-harvest processing, regional difference and cultivar type on the levels of these nutrients were investigated. Cultivated varieties possessed significantly higher vitamin C (P<0.01), vitamin A and E (P<0.05) than the wild type. The vitamin C levels of fresh and sulphur-dried apricot from cultivated forms, for example, were 1.8–2.7- and 2.9–4.6-fold, respectively, higher than those of wild type ones. Among cultivated varieties, H cultivar was determined to have significantly highest vitamin A, E and β-carotene contents (P<0.05). In general, the vitamin, β-carotene and selenium levels were determined to be significantly different, both between varieties and between different regions within the same variety. Cultivars in region ES, a high altitude region, for example, had significantly (P<0.05) higher vitamin C content than the same cultivars grown in other regions. The selenium content, however, was significantly (P<0.01) higher only in fresh fruit from variety HB in region ES than the other two regions.