MULTIELEMENT ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE L.) VARIETIES BY FLAME ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

Abstract

Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.) is widely known due to its nutritional potential, in Pakistan it is only grown at a few agricultural experimental stations. There is no published data about the chemical composition of Pakistani barley varieties; however, research laboratories have studied their agronomical characteristics. The mineral concentration of five Pakistani barley varieties and their soil were studied, namely Sadabahar, Bajawar -2000, Frontier-87, Sonober-96, Soorab-96 and the soil of two agricultural plots, namely Wheat Research Institute Faisalabad and National Agriculture Research Centre Islamabad. The analysis included: 15 macro and micronutrients and they varied in concentration from 0.22-8285.1 mg kg-1 in barley seed and soil concentration in both of above plots varies from 1.63-14719.8 mg kg-1. Among all the varieties; Sadabahar showed the highest Mg, Zn and Cr content (2686.6, 39.19, 1.22 mg kg-1) respectively. Bajawar -2000, showed the highest Na, K, Ca, Fe, and Ni content (1768.0, 8285.1, 891.0, 937.02, and 4.56 mg kg-1) respectively. Frontier-87 showed the highest Ba content (18.58 mg kg-1), Sonober-96 showed the highest Co, Pb and Cd content (4.41, 1.45, 0.29 mg kg-1), Sorab-96 showed the highest Al content 39.50 mg/kg. Since all varieties were grown under two environmental conditions i.e. Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad and National Agriculture Research Centre Islamabad. These results may be useful in the food industry for the selection of hull barley varieties for human consumption and to produce substantially mineral contents