Nutrients Content and Composition in Different Morphological Parts of Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas L.)

Abstract

The aim of this study, focused on the nutritional value of different morphological parts: leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of Cornus mas L., was to determine the contents of essential nutrients, fatty acid and amino acid profiles, and the content of selected elements. The most importantly, it was concluded that the contents of studied nutrients differed significantly (p <0.05) depending on the morphological part of plant. Protein content (2.27–10.58%) was generally higher than in many wild or cultivated fruits, while flowers were distinguished by the highest content (10.58%), as compared with other studied parts of this plant. Cornus mas contained a substancial amount of lipids (3.34–5.23%, except fruits). Leaves proved to be extremely rich in carotenoids, mainly β-carotene (88.5 mg.kg^-1) compared with the rest of the plant. The application of GC enabled detecting 14 fatty acids in lipid fraction extracted from Cornus mas samples, belonging to all groups. SFAs were represented by palmitic acid (C16:0) 10.87–32.20 g.100 g^-1 of oil. Among MUFAs oleic acid (C18:1 9c) 3.25–19.61 g.100 g^-1 of oil dominated, with the highest content in fruits. Lipid fraction was extremely rich in PUFAs: 32.52–61.86 g.100 g^-1 of oil. The major PUFA was linoleic acid (C18:2 9c12c): 7.93 (in leaves) – 60.18 g.100 g^-1 of oil (in seeds); the second most abundant was α-linolenic acid (C18:3 9c12c15c), especially in leaves and flowers (24.59–30.22 g.100 g^-1 of oil, respectively). Cornus mas samples may represent a novel dietary source of valuable α-linolenic acid from n-3 PUFAs family. In total, 18 amino acids were detected in Cornus mas samples, while 9 of them belonged to essential ones. Flowers were distinguished by the highest content of amino acids with the highest amounts of leucine (6.1 g.kg^-1), lysine (6.2 g.kg^-1), aspartic (10.7 g.kg^-1) and glutamic (10.7 g.kg^-1) acids. Calcium was the most abundant element in all samples (2647–25687 mg.kg^-1 of dry weight, except fruits. Nutrients content and composition suggest that Cornus mas may become an inexpensive novel plant source of functional foods, and a new ingredient in human diet, especially with regard to underappreciated leaves and flowers.