Profiling Of Dates On Physical Characteristics And Minerals Composition By Chemometrics
Abstract Phoenix dactylifera L.,is commonly known as the date palm is a primeval plant and has been cultivated for its edible fruit in the desert oasis of the Arab world for centuries. In the Middle East, dates have played a major role for thousands of years as an abundant food source. The dates (Ph...
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| Summary: | Abstract Phoenix dactylifera L.,is commonly known as the date palm is a primeval plant and has been cultivated for its edible fruit in the desert oasis of the Arab world for centuries. In the Middle East, dates have played a major role for thousands of years as an abundant food source. The dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.), a high-energy fruit, is regarded as a popular food commodity in many countries and sunnah diet of prophet Muhammed. The date fruit is a good source of sugars, vitamins, minerals and fibers. The minerals that normally found in dates are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc. The aim of the study is to determine the physical characteristics ; and minerals composition between fifteen different brands of date that available in the market by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) then applying chemometrics techniques such as Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and k-mean cluster to evaluate the profiles of dates fruit. The results have shown that dates can be grouped into 4 groups. AJWA is a smallest dates and this create it own group. Potassium is the highest concentration followed by Magnesium and Calcium, while Ferum, Zinc, Manganese and Copper are found at average concentration. It has been found that the best brand among the selected dates is AJWA due to its high concentration of Ferum, Copper, Manganese and Magnesium. |
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