MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF MAJOR, MINOR AND TOXIC ELEMENTS IN Sechium

G. J. ALBARRACÍN; M. A. CANTARELLI; N. L. ESCUDERO; E. J. MARCHEVSKY; J. M. CAMIÑA

San Luis

Congreso; XXX Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2012

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Multivariate data analysis was performed on Sechium edule, using as variables the concentration of the follow elements: Ag, Al, As, Ba, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Hg, K, La, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, Ta, Te, Ti, Tl, V, Zn and Zr, analyzed by ICP-OES on a total of 15 replicates Sechium fruits, including whole fruit (Fr), pulp (Pu) and seed (Se). Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was carried out, in order to find an optimal model of classification and find the most relevant variables for the analysis of the fruit (which were the concentration of Ca, Cd, Fe, Mg, P y S); after that, the same variables were used for Clusters (CA) Analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Thus, it was possible to make a proper classification of the three components of the fruit: whole fruit (Fr), pulp (Pu) and seed (Se) by the three multivariate methods. On the other hand, were found significant concentrations of toxic elements in seeds: As (5.35 µg g-1) Cd (7.45 µg g-1), Hg (0.55 µg g-1) and Pb (1.91 µg g-1). As conclusion, multivariate methods were able to classify different parts of Sechium edule and were detected high levels of toxic elements in their seeds.