Sensory quality and chemical composition in carrots: A multivariate study

Carrots from designed trials and organic and conventional farms were analysed for sensory quality and chemical composition. The data were combined in principal component analyses and partial least squares regression for exploration of the main factors responsible for the variation in quality. One of the most important factors was fertilization. Carrots grown with no fertilizer and carrots fertilized with 40-80 kg nitrogen ha(-1) as mineral fertilizer or 20-72 tons ha(-1) of organic fertilizer contained more total sugars and total flavour strength, less crispness, crude protein, true protein and carotene, and had a lower pH, compared with carrots fertilized with 100-192 kg nitrogen ha(-1) as mineral fertilizer. Location site was also very important in the explanation of the total variation and was a composite factor of precipitation, temperature in June, growth system and length of growth period. Soil type, amount of organic fertilizer, use of pesticides and temperatures in July and August seemed to be of less importance.