Investigation of heavy metal and chemical contents of some date varieties grown in Iraq

In this study, 8 different types of dates such as Khastawi, Maktum, Zuhtimutawi, Chukleti, Tiberzal, Khadrawi, Birem and Barhi which are consumed as food and supplied from Iraq were used. Heavy metal contents of the studied palm varieties were quantitatively studied with AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry) and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry) techniques. Copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca) and manganese (Mn) amounts in the flesh parts of the studied date varieties ranged from 0.5 to 1.90 mg / kg, 7.19 to 21.99 mg / kg, 2.79 to 6.37 mg / kg, 5223,18 to 8074,56 mg / kg, 363,14 to 768,89 mg / kg, 775,95 to 1100,85 mg/kg, 311,86 to 482,79 mg/kg and 4,60 to 18,50 mg/kg, respectively. On the other hand, in the seed parts, those heavy metals were determined as 2.39 to 6.26, 10.15 to 15.09, 10.63 to 12.96, 2255.75 to 2886.88, 676.41 to 981.93, 1427.93 to 1963.86, 169.10 to 237.57 and 4.60 to 18.50, respectively. Additionally, carbon (C), hydrogen and nitrogen (N) percentages (mass/mass) of the flesh and seed parts of the studied date varieties were determined by Elementel Analysis Instrument (Dumas Method). According to this method C,H and N amounts were detected to be 43.2 to 45.36 %, 7.1 to 7.79 %, 0.99 to 1.15 and 37.48 to 39.76, 7.82 to 8.51, 0.51 to 0.64 in flesh and seed parts of the dates, respectively. The protein amounts found in the fleshy and seed parts of the palm date samples were determined to be among 3.38-3.81 % and 5.88 - 7.19, respectively. Total oil amount of the flesh and seed parts of the studied date varieties were between 0.126-0.175 g/100 g plant and 4.750-7.125 g/100 g plant, respectively. The fatty acid compositions were determined by using GC-FID and GC-MS techniques. Same 14 fatty acids were detected in the studied date varieties. Among those, oleic acid was the most abundant fatty acid (between 42.706 % and 49.069%).The phenolic contents of ethanol extracts of the studied date samples were determined by LC-MS / MS.