Mineral concentrations in cultivars of potatoes

Concentrations of Na, K, Rb, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were determined in eight cultivars of potatoes harvested in Tenerife. The traditional cultivars presented higher K, Fe, Cu and Zn concentrations and lower ratio Na/K than recently imported cultivars. The cultivar Cara showed the highest and lowest mean concentration for Na and K, respectively. The highest mean concentrations of Fe, Cu and Zn were found in the cultivars Azucena, Palmera and Peluca, and the lowest concentrations in Cara. The trace elements significantly correlated with all the metals. The behaviour of Na was opposite to the rest of the metals, showing negative correlations. Applying factor analysis, the first three factors explaining 70.4% of the total variance were extracted. The first factor is related to Zn, the second factor is associated with Mn and K, and the third factor is negatively related to Na. Factor analysis and cluster analysis tend to separate the potato samples according to location and irrigation procedure. Traditional and recently imported potatoes were well separated when the factor analysis was applied on the samples of Solanum tuberosum. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.