MACRO- AND MICROELEMENT COMPOSITION OF OSAGE ORANGE MACLURA POMIFERA L. (MORACEAE)

The content of macro- and micro- as well as toxic elements in Maclura pomifera L. fruit has been investigated in order to estimate its potential applications in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. The content of 29 elements (As, Ag, Al, B, Ba, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Ge, Hg, In, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sb, Si, Sr, Tl and Zn) has been determinated from the fruit samples which originated from the Jablanica District in Serbia. The element content was determined in the fruit core, flesh and seed. The preparation of samples for macro- and micro-element analysis was done by wet digestion. Concentrations of elements after digestion were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The results showed that of all the examined macroelements, potassium appeared in the highest concentration in all three sample parts (1175-3137 mg kg(-1)). Maclura pomifera L. seed analysis showed the highest Mg, Na, P, Zn and Fe content compared to the core and flesh fruit part, which points to the highest nutritional value of seeds. Of all the toxic heavy metals, lead (2.962-16.90 mg kg(-1)), arsenic (0.987-1.352 mg kg(-1)) and mercury (8.229-9.465 mg kg(-1)) were detected over the allowable limits set for food. However, the determined arsenic and lead concentrations, unlike mercury ones, do not exclude the possibility of using Maclura pomifera L. as raw material in different industries.