Abstract
Young fronds of ferns are consumed as a vegetable in many countries. The aim of this study was to analyze three fern species that are available for sale in the Russian Far East as dietary sources in terms of fatty acids that are important for human physiology: arachidonic acid (20:4n-6, ARA), eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA) and other valuable long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. The content of ARA and EPA was 5.5 and 0.5 mg/g dry weight, respectively, in Pteridium aquilinum, 4.1 and 1.1 in Matteuccia struthiopteris, and 2.2 and 0.8 in Osmundastrum asiaticum. Salted fronds of P. aquilinum contained less these fatty acids than the raw fronds, with a decrease of up to 49% for ARA and 65% for EPA. These losses were less pronounced or even insignificant in dried fronds. Cooked ferns preserved significant portions of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids: cooked P. aquilinum contained 4.4 mg/g dry weight ARA and 0.3 mg/g dry weight EPA. The ferns may provide a supplemental dietary source of these valuable long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially for vegetarian diets.
Highlights
Ferns belong to a group of free-sporing vascular plants which is wide-spread around the world in different climatic zones
The fronds of Primorsky origin were purchased at a local market in Vladivostok (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn and Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Tod.) or harvested in the surroundings of Vladivostok (Osmundastrum asiaticum Tagawa) in May 2018
The fronds of Amur origin (P. aquilinum and M. struthiopteris) were harvested from plants growing in the collection of genetic resources of plants of the Amur Branch of the Botanical GardenInstitute FEB RAS or nearby (Blagoveshchensk, Amur Oblast, Russia) in May 2018
Summary
Ferns belong to a group of free-sporing vascular plants (class Polypodiopsida) which is wide-spread around the world in different climatic zones. The fern sporophyte is usually the dominant life stage (generation) both in terms of size and lifespan. The sporophyte typically has conspicuous leaves (fronds), which are compound and display a great diversity in size and shape. The global economic value of ferns is much lower than that of seed plants; there are a number of examples of the ethnobotanical usage of ferns [1]. The traditional and modern usage of ferns for food has been observed in different regions [1,2,3,4,5]. Fronds (mostly young), rhizomes, stems and tubers can be eaten as fresh greens, cooked as vegetables or processed for starch [4]
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