ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Mineral profile determination by ICP-MS and physicochemical evaluation of cultivated and wild Algerian Opuntia species

Fares Boudjouan, Walid Zeghbib, Graciliana Lopes, Edgar Pinto, Agostinho Almeida, and Vítor Vasconcelos

Université de Bejaia, Faculté de Technologie, Laboratoire de Génie de l’Environnement, Université de Bejaia, Bejaia, Algeria

E-mail: fares.boudjouan@univ-bejaia.dz

Received: 9 January 2024  Accepted: 30 September 2024

Abstract:

Opuntia is a well-known plant for its folkloric use and nutritional composition. This work aimed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics, as well as the mineral composition realized by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for cultivated and wild Algerian Opuntia species. The results showed a significant difference in length, diameter, and weight between both Opuntia fruits. The highest pH, brix°, and total sugar content were found in the pulp of cultivated fruit compared to the wild one. Moisture was found to be higher in pulp of both species with more than 90% compared to their seeds (33%); however, ashes content was more determined in seeds with 1.04%. Moreover, high protein content was found in wild Opuntia parts (more than 200 mg bovine serum albumin equivalent/100 g dry matter), which also presented higher ascorbic acid and betalain contents, particularly in the pulp with 211.45 mg EAA/100 g DM and 312.91 mg/100 g DM, respectively, compared to the cultivated Opuntia. Finally, the mineral profile revealed a significant countenance of all species’ fractions in many important minerals for human organism functioning, like iron, magnesium, zinc, and potassium.

Keywords: Opuntia species; Fruit fractions; Physicochemical characteristic; Nutritional composition; Mineral profile

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-024-03722-w

Chemical Papers 78 (17) 9005–9018 (2024)