Comparison of mineral content in persimmon fruits grown in Afghanistan

The main aim of the study was to get a first overview of mineral content of persimmon fruits of 12 accessions grown at the National Collection of Fruits in Jalalabad Perennial Horticulture Development and Research Center, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. The set of genotypes included cultivars from Japan (‘Fuyu’, ‘Jiro’, ‘Tone Wase’ and ‘Atago’), local specimens (‘Pakistani’, ‘Swati’, ‘Japani Bedana’, ‘Wara Bedana’, ‘Samarkheli’, ‘Khormalu’), and cultivars of Europe (‘Kaki Tipo’ and ‘Rojo Brillante’). Ripened fruits (average firmness 3.4±0.7 kg and total soluble content average 18.0±2.7) were collected and dried until constant weight. Dried fruit samples (n=3 per cultivar) were submitted to microwave assisted acidic digestion and then analyzed in triple by ICP. Among the mineral elements analyzed, very significant statistical differences were observed among cultivars for the concentration (mg kg^-1 DW) of Al (9.7±3.13), Ba (4.68±1.08), Ca (618.83±86.86), Cr (0.42±0.19), Cu (2.54±0.93), Fe (18.42±4.81), K (9911.11±2161.10), Mg (690.86±82.24), Mn (12.51±7.10), Mo (0.20±0.05), Na (108.61±75.49), Ni (1.15±0.24), P (1101.07±294.87) and Sr (5.54±1.07). The observed values showed a concentration magnitude comparable to those found in literature, nevertheless the persimmons grown in Afghanistan showed much lower content of Cd than that reported in the DTU Foods public food database. The heathmap based on the average concentration of the mineral elements analyzed on the studied fruit samples showed similar profiles between ‘Atago’ and ‘Rojo Brillante’, and ‘Japani Bedana’ and ‘Fuyu’. A high correlation was found between the concentration of iron and aluminum, chrome and zinc, and calcium and phosphorus.