Carotenes content in the leaves of five species of the genus Leucaena

Leucaena is an edible leguminous species native of Mexico, that grows wild. The carotene content was examined in the leaves of Leucaena collinsii, L. greggii, L. leucocephala, L. pulverulenta, y L. hannoni during spring and w inter. Leucaena collinsii showed the maximum content of ct-carotene (2.45 m g/g,) during spring. The maximum content of beta -carotene was found in L. shannoni (3.82 mug/g), during winter. Several changes are proposed for the methods commonly used to determine carotenes.