Quantitative determination of mineral, nitrate and chlorophyll contents of commonly consumed vegetables

Vegetable varieties are extremely effective on the amounts of macroelements. This helps to reveal the vegetables to be consumed according to the required element. The element found in the highest amounts in vegetables was K, followed by Ca, P and Mg in decreasing order. P and K quantities of vegetables were characterized to be between 1169.53 (leek) and 5500.05 (cress) to 21015.06 (mint) and 83484.21 mg/kg (lolorosso), respectively. The microelements detected in vegetables were Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and B, and the highest amount detected among these was Fe (Table 1). This element (Fe) was followed by Mn, Zn, B and Cu in decreasing order. The amounts of microelements differed according to vegetable species. Fe and Zn quantities of the leafy vegetables were characterized to be between 11.61 (cabbage) and 508.36 (rocket) to 6.40 (aysberg marul) and 70.13 mg/kg (cress), respectively. The element found in the highest amounts as toxic elements in leafy vegetables was As, followed by Al, Ba, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd and Co in decreasing order. Nitrate contents of leafy vegetables varied between 11.04 (mountain lettuce) and 1300 mg/kg mg/kg (lolorosso). According to the results, the vegetables containing the highest amounts of nitrate were lolorosso, spinach, dill, Brussel sprouts, purple cabbage and cress. In general, the chlorophyll A content of vegetables was slightly higher than chlorophyll B. Chlorophylle A ve chlorophyll B quantities of vegetables were specified to be between 0.56 (dağ marul) and 10.38 mg/kg (spinach) to 0.34 (roka) and 3.22 mg/kg (spinach), respectively.