József Nyéki

Quantitation of Mineral Elements of Different Fruit Pollen Grains

In our investigations we accomplished quantitative measurements using energy dispersive X-ray analysis on mineral elements of pollen grain samples belonging to different fruit species such as apple (Malus domestica Borkh.), pear (Pyrus communis L.), cherry (Cerasus avium L.), sour cherry (Cerasus vulgaris Mill.), European plum (Prunus domestica L.), Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindi.), almond (Amygdalus communis L.), apricot (Armeniaca vulgaris Lam.), quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) and peach (Persica vulgaris Mill.). Pollen grains are particles but, as a result of their size ranging in our samples from 19.2 to 31.2 μm in diameter, they are considered as bulk samples. Link’s ZAF-P/B program was used for the quantitative evaluation of data. The main constituents were Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, while others such as Na, Al, Si and Cu, whose intensity in the spectra did not exceed the standard deviation, were excluded from further quantitative evaluation. Differences in the elemental concentrations of different fruit pollens were significant (p > 5%).