Mineral composition of pods and seeds of wild and grafted carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) fruits

Wild and grafted carob fruits (61 different carob trees in the selected locations in total) grown in 2009 and 2010 in Antalya province of Turkey were evaluated for their mineral composition of different fruit parts, including the pods and seeds of wild (PW, SW) and grafted types (PG, SG). The highest mean values of total ash content (3.85%) and total nitrogen (%) were observed in the seeds of grafted carob fruits (SG). Among the macro minerals analyzed, the potassium content was very high in all samples (1.01-1.19%). Although the fruit type (wild or grafted) was not a significant parameter on mineral concentration of the samples (P> 0.05), the seeds generally contained higher macro and micro minerals than the pods in both carob types. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.