Trace and Macroelement Profiles in Wild and Cultivated Fruits From Serbia

The aim of this study was to determine the content of inorganic elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Cu, Fe, Cr, Zn, Se, Co, Mn, V, Si, Ni, B, Al, As, Pb, Cd, and Ba) in wild and cultivated fruit from the Republic of Serbia. Twelve samples of six different wild fruit species (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, junipers and blackthorn) were collected from five locations, while seven cultivated samples (raspberry, cherry, red plum, grape, chokeberry, red and black currant) were collected from one urban location. The method was validated using strawberry leaves as certified reference material (LGC7162). Among the macroelements, K was the most abundant (1.087-7.99 mg g^-1), followed by Ca (0.26-3.75 mg g^-1), P (0.189-1.062 mg g^-1), Mg (0.075-0.68 mg g^-1) and Na (0.023-0.298 mg g^-1). Among the microelements, Mn was present at the highest concentration was Mn (0.467-109 µg g^-1), followed by Si (8.1-59.4 µg g^-1), Al (3.63-44.3 µg g^-1), B (1.25-28 µg g^-1), Fe (3.4-28 µg g^-1), Zn (1.51-18.4 µg g^-1), Ba (0.36-10.9 µg g^-1), Ni (0.22-9.6 µg g^-1), Cu (0.90-3.68 µg g^-1), Cr (0.130-2.73 µg g^{- 1}), V (0.167-1.51 µg g^-1), Pb (0.021-1.31 µg g^-1), Se (0.028-0.86 µg g^-1), Co (0.023-0.67 µg g^-1), As (0.041-0.425 µg g^-1) and Cd (0.010-0.372 µg g^-1). Potassium was present at the highest concentration (7.99 mg g^-1) in the juniper, while Na was the least abundant (0.023 mg g^-1) in the wild blackberry. For essential microelements, Mn (109 µg g^-1) was present at the highest concentration in the juniper, while Co (0.023 µg g^-1) was present at the lowest concentration in the wild blueberry and cultivated grape. The concentrations of Pb and Cd were within the maximum levels in fruits set by the EU Commission Regulation, except for wild blueberry juniper and blackthorn for Pb and juniper for Cd. Ba, Mn, and V showed potential discriminatory power between wild and cultivated fruit samples in this exploratory dataset under internal LOOCV; however, these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the limited effective sample size and absence of independent validation.