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Nutraceuticals can serve as an alternative supplement to overcome nutritional deficiency for a healthy lifestyle. They can also play a key role in disease management. To develop carrot nutraceutical products, 64 genotypes from four different continents were evaluated for a range of morpho-nutrition variables. Genetic variability, heritability, strength and direction of association among variables, and direct and indirect relationships among physiochemical and nutritional traits with β-carotene content were evaluated. Core diameter, foliage weight, root weight and shoulder weight showed significant association with β-carotene accumulation. Principal component analysis for physiochemical and nutritional assessment divided these genotypes into two distinctive groups, Eastern carrots and Western carrots. Caloric and moisture content had high positive associations with β-carotene content while carbohydrate content was negatively associated. Five genotypes (T-29, PI 634658, PI 288765, PI 164798, and Ames 25043) with the highest β-carotene contents were selected for making three nutraceutical supplements (carrot-orange juice, carrot jam and carrot candies). These nutraceutical supplements retained high β-carotene content coupled with antioxidant properties. Carrot jam (6.5 mg/100 g) and carrot candies (4.8 mg/100 g) had greater concentrations of β-carotene than carrot-orange juice (1.017 mg/100 g). Carrot jam presented high antioxidant activity with the highest values in T-29 (39% inhibition of oxidation) followed by PI 634658 (37%), PI 164798 (36.5%), Ames 25043 (36%) and PI 288765 (35.5%). These nutraceutical products, with 4–6.5 mg/100 g β-carotene content, had higher values than the USDA recommended dietary intake of 3–6 mg β-carotene/day can be recommended for daily use to lower the risk of chronic disease.

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N. sativa is an important industrial crop globally but neglected crop in Pakistan, hence imported. It has been used for revitalizing body system in almost all ancient civilizations. In the present investigation worldwide accessions of N. sativa were cultivated for three years to select the most diverse accessions for cultivation and future breeding purpose in Pakistan. More diverse and acclimatized accessions with enhanced morphological traits were observed. Seed length, seed width, plant height, number of flowers and number of follicles showed maximum considerable variation in three years. Morphological variations observed and collected for all three years were not consistent among all accessions, due to some environmental fluctuations while some of the accessions like ACC 20662, ACC W626529, ACC 20878, ACC 21545, ACC 21428and ACC 20990 showed consistency at some extent among results of different morphological markers (number of flowers, number of stamens, number of follicles, follicle length, follicle width and seed per follicle). 50% accessions germinated in 26-35 days consecutively three years and showed optimum growth. The maximum height was noticed as 108cm in two accessions ACC 20878 and ACC 20780. The maximum frequency of flower initiation days was noted 101-110 days. The maximum frequency distribution for number of branches was noted in frequency class 11-15 during all three years. The maximum frequency of flower initiation days was noted 101-110 days for 2015-16 and 2017-18. The data recorded in 2017-18 depicted the maximum number of flowers as 15 (ACC 20780 and ACC 20878). The rate of follicle production per plant was 10 among accessions (ACC W626529, ACC 20545 and ACC 21295). The largest frequency class for stamens number was 21-25 stamens, whereas the plants with frequency class 31-35 stamens were least frequent. The flower color varied in the recombinant plants (RC) as Purple White whereas in the parents it was White (Jordan) and Bluish white (Ukraine).  In general the accessions belonging to Gujranwala, Jordan, Lahore, Haripur, Attock and Sargodha were found morphologically more significant and diverse.

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