Morphological and Biochemical Characteristics of Plant Parts Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt. and Some Physical Indicators of its Extracts in Activated Water

Abstract

The research focused on determining the economic value of a selected collection of 20 shrubs from a wild-growing population of Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt. from Arboretum Mlyňany and Nitra region. By morphological analysis, we determined weight of fruits 0.18–0.50 g, the height of fruits   5.57–13.22 mm, the width of fruits 0.98–11.00 mm, and the number of seeds 1.67–5.30 pcs. The content of macro- and microelements was found in the fruits and leaves. M. aquifolium samples are a very valuable source of potassium as the main mineral element contained in leaves (10.437 mg.kg^-1) and fruits (9.763 mg.kg^-1). Microelements such as manganese and iron prevailed in leaves (80.1 mg.kg^-1 of Mn and 35.0 mg.kg^-1 of Fe), fruits (29.7 mg.kg^-1 of Mn and 25.0 mg.kg^-1 of Fe), and heavy metals (Al, As, Cd, Ni, Pb, Hg) are present only in the small amounts with the most abundant aluminium (17.6 mg.kg^-1 of Al in leaves and 3.6 mg.kg^-1 of Al in fruits) content and can be used as indicator suggesting the environmental pollution status in the region. We determined the antioxidant activity by the Trolox method in methanol extracts (76.2 and 101.2 mg TE.g^-1 DW), in ethanol extracts (54.3 and 47.4 mg TE.g^-1 DW), in acetone extracts (63.4 and 51.9 mg TE.g^-1 DW) and water extracts (35.5 and 60.3 mg TE.g^-1 DW) for fruits and leaves, respectively. Extraction of whole fruit (A1-WF), mashed fruit (A1-MF), and fruitless clusters (A1-CT) in structured (activated) water obtained by Kalyxx for 5 days determined a significant reduction trend pH in mashed fruits (A1-MF). The electrolytic conductivity and total dissolved solids of the extracts decreased significantly from the third day of extraction in variants A1-MF and A1-WF. Significant stability of pH, electrolytic conductivity and total dissolved solids during the experimental period was determined for the fruitless clusters’ extracts (A1-CT). The results show that Mahonia aquifolium has a multifunctional practical use even in the conditions of the Slovak Republic.