Study of elemental herb composition of different lentil species

Abstract

Topicality. Plants are the source of many chemical elements for human body including various physiological and biological role and relatively high bioavailability. The information about food and medicinal plants chemical composition is necessary for the balanced human nutrition, prevention and treatment of diseases associated with dysеlementosis. Content determination of trace elements and heavy metals in medicinal plant raw materials and medicines derived from them has the scientific interest due to the high biological role of certain chemical elements for human body. Aim. To determine the elemental herb composition of wild lentils ( Lens ): L. orientalis (Boiss.) Hand.-Mazz.), L. odemensis Ladiz. and L. tomentosus Ladiz. Materials and methods. For studying the elemental composition atomic emission spectrographic method was used. The raw material was provided by O. M. Bezugla, the leading researcher of theNationalCenter for Plant Genetic Resources of Ukraine. Results and discussion. According to the research results 19 elements were identified in studied samples. Five of them were assigned to the macroelements and fourteen – to microelements among which Ni, Cu, Pb belong to heavy metals. All samples of lentils contained the largest amount of К and Ca. Among detected microelements the high content had Si, Fe, Zn, Al, Mn. The following patterns of the elements accumulation were characteristic for the samples: L. orientalis – K > Ca > Si > Na > Mg > P > > Al > Fe > Mn > Zn > Sr > Ni = Cu > Pb > Mo; L. оdemensis – K > Si > Ca > Mg > P > Fe > Al > Na > Mn > Sr > Zn > Cu > Ni > Pb = Mo; L. tomentosus – K > Ca > Si > Mg > P > Na > Al > Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu > Ni > Pb = Sr = Mo. Conclusions . In the herb of three lentils species the content of 19 elements was determined, among witch 5 elements were macroelements and 14 elements – microelements. After analyzing the results we can conclude that high content and ability to accumulate elements make herbs of studied lentil species the promising sources of biologically available macro and microelements.