Quantity of microelements and macroelements in mulberry leaves

Abstract

White mulberry (Morus alba L.) naturally occurs in India, China, Japan and it is widely used in agriculture and medicine. Mulberry leaves contain plenty of different micro and macro elements. The chemical composition of leaves depends on species, breed, type of soil, amount of fertilizer, time of leaf picking and other factors. The aim of the research is to evaluate and compare the composition of micro and macro elements in white mulberry leaves. This research was carried out in 2016-2017, in the mulberry farm in Kaunas district. Leaves samples of two mulberry cultivars 'Turchanka' and 'Plodovaja 3' were collected in June. Mulberry leaves analysis micro (copper, manganese, silicon, zinc, iron) and macro elements (phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, magnesium) were conducted by standard methods (determination of selected elements by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry method) at Agrochemical Research Laboratory. The research has shown that leaves of white mulberry 'Turchanka' and 'Plodovaja 3' contains similar amount of micro elements such as: zinc from 1.65 to 1.73 mg 100 g−1 (dry matter), silicon - 25.63-28.05 mg 100 g−1 DM, manganese - 2.72-2.76 mg 100 g−1 DM. Furthermore, it was found similar amount of cooper, which range from 0.45 to 0.62 mg 100 g−1 DM, magnesium - 23.01-24.41 mg 100 g−1 DM, iron - 7.10-7.76 mg 100 g−1 DM. It was established that leaves of 'Plodovaja 3' cultivar contains higher levels of phosphorus, calcium, potassium and sulfur (respectively 594.13 mg 100 g−1 DM, 1461.33 mg 100 g−1 DM, 1827.08 mg 100 g−1 DM and 74.95 mg 100 g−1 DM). This research has revealed that leaves of white mulberry ‘Plodovaja 3’ cultivar contain more micro and macro elements than 'Turchanka' cultivar leaves.