Determination of Metal Content in Crocus sativus L. Corms in Dormancy and Waking Stages

More than 30 mineral elements have been found with different key functions in helping plants and animals to survive and live healthy. As a direct result, they have always attracted the attention of scientists. The quest is to find some efficient analytical and quantitative procedures in this study to determine some mineral and trace elements of Iranian Crocus sativus L. corms. Several studies have been made using distinct methods and eventually, to achieve this purpose, three analytical methods were used as follows: Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Seventeen mineral and trace elements (Mg, Na, Ca, K, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Hg, Ni, Fe, Co, Cd, Sr, Rb, Sc, and Br) were determined in Crocus sativus L. corms in two different physiological stages. The mineral elements content in saffron corms showed a wide variability and their concentrations in dormancy stage were higher than waking. Despite of the fact that K concentration was the highest among all mineral elements studied in both samples, it was nil for Sc, Co, Hg, Pb and Cd.