Contents of Trace Elements in Wild Sweet Chestnut From Giresun/Turkey Origin

Abstract

There are hundreds of years old wild sweet chestnut trees grown among alder, hornbeam, and pine etc. trees in natural forest of Giresun/TURKEY. In this study, trace element contents of chestnuts collected from chestnut trees in these natural forests were investigated. For this purpose, A total of eight elements, manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), selenium (Se) and lead (Pb) were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) in chestnut samples collected from ten chestnut trees. The content of trace elements was determined separately in fruit, bark and pellicle parts of chestnut. In chestnut fruit samples, highest concentration values in mg kg-1 of Mn, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cu, Se, Co and Pb are: 88.29, 72.96, 27.76 8.25, 7.81, 2.28, 0.056 and 0.043 respectively. Chestnut bark has been shown the highest values as Mn 176.01, Fe 96.55, Zn 26.97, Ni 4.33, Cu 8.91, Se 3.08, Co 0.089 and Pb 0.058 mg kg-1. The highest concentrations of trace elements in chestnut pellicle are found as Mn 176.26, Fe 92.98, Zn 60.06, Ni 5.79, Cu 11.4, Se 3.29, Co 0.135 and Pb 0.095 mg kg-1. These results suggest that natural chestnuts grown in the Giresun region are quite rich nutrients in terms of trace element contents.