Mineral composition of pods and seeds of wild and grafted carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) fruits

• The minerals in pod and seed parts of wild and grafted carobs were investigated.
• The highest K concentration (1.19%) was observed in the pods of wild type.
• The macro and micro minerals were generally found higher in the seeds of both type.
• Fe, Mg and Zn concentrations were higher in the seeds of both carob types.
• Mg and Cu minerals were the lowest among the macro and micro minerals analyzed.

Wild and grafted carob fruits (61 different carob trees in the selected locations in total) grown in 2009 and 2010 in Antalya province of Turkey were evaluated for their mineral composition of different fruit parts, including the pods and seeds of wild (PW, SW) and grafted types (PG, SG). The highest mean values of total ash content (3.85%) and total nitrogen (%) were observed in the seeds of grafted carob fruits (SG). Among the macro minerals analyzed, the potassium content was very high in all samples (1.01–1.19%). Although the fruit type (wild or grafted) was not a significant parameter on mineral concentration of the samples (P > 0.05), the seeds generally contained higher macro and micro minerals than the pods in both carob types.