DIFFERENTIATION OF BULGARIAN WILD FRUITS ACCORDING TO THEIR MINERAL CONTENT

A. Aladjadjiyan, D. Georgieva, D. Boyadzhiev, G. Toncheva, D. Buhalova, G. Antova, I. Alexieva, K. Nikolova

Abstract: The content of 12 essential and toxic elements (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Pb) in Bulgarian forest fruits as bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), cornel (Cornus mas) and howthorn (Crataegus laevigata) was investigated. The highest content of Zn was found in cornels (10.67±0.04 mg kg–1), while the richest in Fe is lingonberry (37.1±0.3 mg kg–1), followed by the hawthorn (10.42±0.05 mg kg–1). Content of toxic metals (Pb, Ni) are in amount significantly below the permissible standards. The lowest content of total carbohydrates belongs to hawthorn (5.9±0.1%), while the highest in cornels (11.2±0.1%). The differences in metal content of the investigated fruits were proven by application of mathematical-statistical analysis. Discriminant analysis was used to define the fruit and to estimate the significance of individual indexes in modelling. Canonical variables, included by degree of importance in discriminant functions for examined group of wild edible fruits are Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn.

Keywords: discriminant analysis; ICP-MS; trace element content; wild fruits

Date published: 2017-08-28