## 3 Results and Discussion
### Health-Related Quality  
Table 1 shows TCC, expressed as mg EBC g\({}^{-1}\) DW, and TAC, expressed as mg EC3G g\({}^{-1}\) DW, in fresh-untreated purple carrots on day 0 and day 21 and in MJ- and ABA- treated samples, including their corresponding controls. Data are expressed as mean values (n = 2) \(\pm\) SD. Different letters between purple carrot samples indicate differences at \(p\) < 0.05. From the table, it is interesting that TCC values in fresh-untreated purple carrots on day 0 (i.e., 1.41 mg EBC g\({}^{-1}\) DW) were similar to those reported in the literature for the typical orange-rooted carrots (i.e., 1.29 mg g\({}^{-1}\) DW) [32]. As was also observed, TCC increased significantly (\(p\) < 0.05) in fresh-untreated carrots after cold storage (from 1.41 mg EBC g\({}^{-1}\) DW on day 0 to 3.79 mg EBC g\({}^{-1}\) DW on day 21). Other authors have also found an increase in typical orange carrot \(\beta\)-carotene during the first 2 or 21 days of refrigerated storage [33; 34; 35; 36]. However, the reason why this increase occurs is not well known. It is speculated that either biosynthesis of carotenoids continues in storage or extractability of \(\beta\)-carotene improves because of the slow degradation of the carrot matrix. In fact, it is possible that both mechanisms are at play in conjunction. On the one hand, carotenoid biosynthesis after harvest has been suggested in many climacter fruits and tuberous vegetables other than carrots, e.g., tomatoes or sweet potatoes. On the other, it is known that the carrot matrix is disaggregated with time, and it is reasonable to believe that this disaggregation enables carotenoids to be released. In any case, it is obvious that the degradation of carotenoids is always slower than any of the two mechanisms described above. From a nutritional standpoint, the results are interesting regardless of the mechanism involved. There are several factors contributing to the accumulation of carotenoids in fresh-untreated purple carrots during the three-week cold storage, such as relative humidity or chilling stress. In this respect, various pre- and post-harvest factors (i.e., high light, salinity, drought, cultivation practice, etc.) have been reported to positively  
Figure 5: Maturity index of fresh-untreated and treated purple carrot samples. modulate the enhanced biosynthesis of carotenoids [37]. However, all these studies also describe decrease in carotenoid content in longer storage periods and highlight the extreme importance of the storage conditions. As also seen in Table 1, TAC in fresh-untreated purple carrots was steadily maintained in storage (from 2.23 mg EC3G g\({}^{-1}\) DW on day 0 to 2.18 mg EC3G g\({}^{-1}\) DW on day 21). As no bibliographic studies about the storage effect on anthocyanin-rich carrots have been carried out on purple carrot to our knowledge, no comparison with the literature could be properly accomplished. However, works on black carrot juice have revealed the degradation of anthocyanins in a cold environment in such a way that storage at 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C is recommendable for longer shelf-life [7]. Supporting this study, the decrease in anthocyanin content as a result of the refrigeration has also been observed by other researchers in plant-based foods other than purple carrots [38]. Regarding treatment effect, the same trend was observed for TCC and TAC. In all cases, for both MJ and ABA, the comparison between those treated with their corresponding controls showed no significant differences (\(p>0.05\)). This reflects the transference of the phytoregulatory at some level from the treated half to the control half of the root. However, the statistical comparison of treated purple carrots by using any phytoregulatory with fresh-untreated carrots on day 21 exhibited a significant (\(p<0.05\)) drop in both TCC and TAC. This once more confirms the hypothesis on the slowdown of the decay process as a result of the treatments and, therefore, the longer preservation of the sensory quality.