Elemental Analysis of Epiphyllum, Hylocereus and Opuntia (Cactaceae) Fruits by Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Microanalysis

Abstract

Cactaceae are mostly known as ornamental plants, though they can also be used as food (e. g. Epiphylli fructus, Hylocerei fructus – pitaya / pitahaya / dragon fruit, Opuntiae fructus – Opuntia fig / tuna / prickly pear). Main phytochemical constituents responsible for their pharmacological effects are betalains, terpenes and phenolics. The subject of our work was the identification and quantification of chemical elements in Epiphylli, Hylocerei and Opuntiae fructus (25 samples) by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis. The plant material was obtained from a garden in Modra, Slovakia (Epiphyllum Haw.); Botanical Garden in Szeged, Hungary [Hylocereus (Berger) Britt.]; Comenius University Botanical Garden in Bratislava, Slovakia, and University of Pécs Botanical Garden, Hungary (Opuntia Mill.). Fruits were collected in September 2012–2018. We identified and quantified these elements in the respective samples: ₁₁Na, ₁₃Al, ₁₅P, ₁₉K, ₂₀Ca, ₂₆Fe, ₂₇Co, and ₃₀Zn. The presence of these elements showed considerable variations. Other identified elements (₂₁Sc, ₂₃V, ₂₄Cr, ₂₅Mn, ₂₉Cu, ₃₁Ga, ₃₂Ge, ₃₄Se, ₃₅Br, ₄₀Zr, ₄₆Pd, ₄₈Cd, ₄₉In, ₅₀Sn, ₅₂Te, ₅₃I, ₅₄Xe, ₅₆Ba, ₅₈Ce, ₆₀Nd, ₆₁Pm, ₆₂Sm, ₆₃Eu, ₆₄Gd, ₆₅Tb, ₆₆Dy, ₆₇Ho, ₆₈Er, ₆₉Tm, ₇₀Yb, ₇₁Lu, ₇₂Hf, ₇₃Ta, ₇₅Re, ₇₆Os, ₇₇Ir, ₇₈Pt, ₈₀Hg, and ₈₁Tl) could not be quantified due to the lack of available salts suitable for calibration.

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