Chaenomeles sp. (C. cathayensis, C. japonica, C. spesiosa and C. x superba) arecharacterized by rich chemical composition of all plant parts and the widevariability of the accumulation of separate components in different species andcultivars. For the expansion of ideas about the chaenomeles content nutritionalvalue of 7 essential macro- and microelements in the flowers and fruit of 8cultivars from the Nikita Botanical Gardens collection have been studied. Analysisof plant samples was carried out by dry ashing with subsequent determination ofmostelements on the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Ca and Mg weredetermined by complex metric method. It was revealed that essential elements wereaccumulated in the flowers and fruits in different quantities. The maximum amountof K, Fe, Mg, Zn, Cu and Mn is contained in the flowers. The largest amount of Cawas detected in fruits, whereas Zn, Mn and Cu were most presented in seeds. Thestudied cultivars differ significantly in accumulation of essential elements.According to the studied complex components, the accession P-8-3 was allocated.Flowers were characterized by the highest content of Ca, Zn, Mn, Cu and highcontent – of K; fruits were rich in K, Ca, Zn, Mn and Cu. In the jam from thechaenomeles fruit, the high content of K (2087 mg 100 g-, i. e. more than 2%) wasrevealed. It is seven fold higher than daily rate for human. Thus, chaenomelesflowers, fruits and seeds are a valuable raw material, enriched with vital macroandmicroelements.
THE CONTENT OF ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN THE FLOWERS AND FRUITS OF CHAENOMELES (Chaenomeles Lindl.)
