Composition, Hot-Water Solubility of Elements and Nutritional Value of Fruits And

Abstract

Yerba mate leaves are the most studied and used parts of the tree, while fruits have been little investigated as to their elemental composition. The objective of this study was to characterize the composition, the hot-water solubility of the elements and the nutritional value of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill) fruits and leaves. Both fruits and leaves were collected from four yerba mate provenances (cities of Cascavel, Quedas do Iguaçu and Ivaí in Paraná state and Barão de Cotegipe in Rio Grande do Sul state) 17 years of age, grown in the city of Pinhais, Paraná state, Brazil. The total and hot water-soluble contents of 22 and 20 elements, respectively, were determined. The elemental composition of the fruits presented the following decreasing order: C, K, N, Mg, Ca, P, Al, Na, Zn, Mn, Fe, Ba, Cu, Ni, Mo, Pb, Cr, As, Co, Ag, V and Cd. For the leaves the decreasing order was: C, N, K, Ca, Mg, P, Al, Mn, Na, Fe, Zn, Ba, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cr, Mo, As, Co, Ag, V and Cd. It was found than 2 to 8 elements in the fruit presented greater water solubility than in the leaves. In case of consumption via infusion of the fruits or leaves, there would be nutritive value for K, Mg, P, Mn, Cr, Mo, Cu and Zn, while consumption of capsules would have nutritive value only for Mn via the leaves. In general, the fruits have more distinct elemental composition, hot-water solubility and nutritional value than yerba mate leaves.

Plant growth, nutrients and potentially toxic elements in leaves of yerba mate clones in response to phosphorus in acid soils

“…The Clone 2 leaves would be more interesting in terms of human nutrition, because they had higher levels of a nutrient (Zn) and lower levels of non-essential elements. Based on nutritional value estimates of yerba mate leaves made by Barbosa et al (2015), the present study verifies the intake of infusion prepared with Clone 2 leaves contribute up to 11.5% of the daily Zn requirements (in adults) whereas the contribution by Clone 1 was 7.6%.…”

“…In addition to these physiological factors, changes in the leaf anatomy (leaf blade/ribs ratio, leaf thickness) may have contributed to the findings, which deserves attention in future studies. The variation in C content in the leaves of yerba mate clones was low, corroborating Barbosa et al (2015), evaluating leaves and fruits of plants from four yerba mate origins.…”

“…By presenting low leaf P content and being found in low fertility acid soils (Reissmann et al 1999, Barbosa et al 2015, yerba mate could be considered a species undemanding in P. In contrast, there have been reported increases in species growth in response to P application, even at high rates, indicating that yerba mate is P responsive (Ceconi et al 2007, Santin et al 2008. Assessing the influence of P on the elemental composition of yerba mate seedling leaves, Santin et al (2013) observed alterations in N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn.…”

Soil Chemical Attributes and Their Influence on Elemental Composition of Yerba Mate Leaves

“…Berté et al (2011) have shown that the leaves of the yerba mate have properties useful to humans, similar to that of caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline. On the other hand, the infusion of yerba mate leaves can be a source of nutrients, although potentially toxic elements were found in very low concentrations (REISSMANN et al, 1999;BARBOSA et al, 2015).…”

“…A number of factors control the elemental composition of yerba mate leaves, for instance, the genetics (BENEDETTI et al, 2017;BARBOSA et al, 2018), leaf age, time between harvesting, index of light (JACQUES et al, 2007), variation between leaves and fruits (BARBOSA et al, 2015), and soil attributes (REISSMANN et al, 1999;CARNEIRO, 2004;BARBOSA et al, 2018). Considering that yerba mate leaves are meant for human consumption, it is necessary to identify its elemental composition and its relationship with soil proprieties, because the soil chemistry can determine the elemental composition and consequently the raw material quality.…”