Twenty-six major and trace elements, in the seed and the mesocarp of wild and cultivated rosehips from different locations in Serbia, were quantified by means of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The cultivated rosehip was investigated for the first time. In both wild and cultivated rosehips, the most abundant elements were K and Ca. Among trace elements, Mn (in both seed and mesocarp); Fe (in seeds); and B, Ba, and Sr (in mesocarp) were quantified in the highest concentrations. The higher content of Cu, K, Mn, P, and S in the seed of cultivated rosehip, as well as Ca, Mg, and Sr in the mesocarp of wild rosehip, was observed, both significant at p < 0.05. Additionally, differences between the seed and the mesocarp of studied rosehip were noticed in the content of B, Cu, Fe, K, Ni, P, S, Sr, and Ti (p < 0.05). Nutritional assessment revealed that both wild and cultivated rosehips are a valuable source of essential elements (Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, and P). The absence of toxic and potentially toxic elements additionally contributes to the quality of studied Serbian rosehip. A high impact of factors such as variety, location, as well as their interaction on the content of elements in cultivated rosehip mesocarp and seed was observed. Pattern recognition techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied in order to provide insight into similarities among the analyzed samples.
Keywords: Essential elements; Mesocarp; Nutrients; PCA; Rosehip; Seed.