Characterization of Lycium barbarum L. berry cultivated in North Macedonia: A chemometric approach

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Covaci, Eniko^{a; b} | Senila, Marin^c | Leopold, Loredana Florina^d | Olah, Neli-Kinga^{e; f} | Cobzac, Codruta^{a; b} | Ivanova-Petropulos, Violeta^g | Balabanova, Biljana^g | Cadar, Oana^c | Becze, Anca^c | Ponta, Michaela^{a; b} | Mot, Augustin Catalin^{a; b} | Frentiu, Tiberiu^{a; b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Babes-Boyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | [b] Research Center for Advanced Chemical Analysis, Instrumentation and Chemometrics, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | [c] INCDO-INOE 2000 National Institute for Research and Development of Optoelectronics Bucharest, Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | [d] University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania | [e] Vasile Goldis Western University of Arad, Faculty of Pharmacy, Arad, Romania | [f] SC PlantExtrakt SRL, Cluj, Romania | [g] Goce Delčev University, Faculty of Agriculture, Štip, Republic of North Macedonia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: T. Frentiu, ftibi@chem.ubbcluj.ro.

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Lycium barbarum L. has received considerable attention due to nutritional value of berries and its cultivation in Europe has attracted growing interest. OBJECTIVE:The aim of the study was characterization of Lycium barbarum L. berry cultivated in North Macedonia in terms of nutritional and functional properties and comparison with Lycium chinense M. variety. METHODS:Minerals, total proteins, sugars, antioxidant activity, fatty acids, carotenoids and polyphenols were determined and lipid indices were evaluated. Principal Component Analysis was used to describe variability of composition, while heat map to recognize the parameters significantly different for varieties. RESULTS:Lycium barbarum L. cultivated in North Macedonia represents a rich source of K, Cu, Mn, P, Zn, Mg, Fe and antioxidant compounds. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (mainly linolenic acid) were dominant in oil resulting in very low atherogenic and thrombogenic indices. A variability of 35.1% was ascribed to minerals, carbohydrates and proteins, 22.3% to ω-6 fatty acids and lipid indices of oil, 19.4% to nutrients with antioxidant activity and 13.4% to ω-3 fatty acids (n-3 and n-3/n-6 ratio). CONCLUSIONS:Chemometric analysis highlighted significant differences in terms of inorganic nutrients, antioxidant capacity, proteins, sugar profile and lipid indices in Lycium barbarum L. compared to Lycium chinense M.

Keywords: Lycium barbarum L., Lycium chinense M., mineral nutrient, fatty acid, antioxidant activity, unsupervised chemometrics

DOI: 10.3233/JBR-190450

Journal: Journal of Berry Research, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 223-241, 2020