To Örebro University

Collard greens are loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea a common vegetable. The aim of the present study consisted on the one hand in the determination of nutrients (major, minor and trace elements) as well as potentially toxic elements in this plant and on the other hand in evaluating the effects of certain stress (elevated salinity) on the uptake and accumulation of the before-determined elements. This stress factor has severe effects on crop productivity especially in countries in the Mediterranean area. Plants’ growth is determined by the photosynthetic activity, which is strongly influenced by salinity stress. The resultant effects are different for various species or cultivars, duration of the stress and applied salt concentration.

Roots and leaves of normally grown plants and of plants exposed to higher levels of sodium chloride were analyzed in the investigation. More than twenty metals and metalloids were quantified using ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma – optical emission after acidic microwave assisted digestion of the respective plant sample. Apart from the general determination of the elemental contents and their distribution within the plant, special attention was drawn to the sodium/potassium ratio as well as to changes in the contents of other single charged metal ions.