title: An elemental analysis of conventionally, organically and self-grown carrots.
abstract: Conventionally-, organically- and self-grown carrots available across the Czech market were characterised based on their elemental, nitrate and dry matter content (218 samples, 20 parameters) in order to assess the quality of the carrots and address the question whether organic also means better. The results were compared with information describing the elemental composition of carrots published previously, recommended daily intakes, and legislative limits for contaminants in food. Significant differences in the amounts of Na, K, S, Al, Mn, Ni, As and Cd were observed between conventional and organic carrots. From the perspective of inter-element interactions, and the origin of these, a principal components analysis of the datasets found no significant differences between conventionally- and organically-grown carrots. For the consumer, it is valuable to know there are no differences between conventionally- and organically-grown carrots, and no potential harm arising from heavy metal contamination. Based on our data, carrots are an excellent source of potassium.
authors: Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Pardubice, Studentská 573, CZ-532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic. Electronic address: anna.krejcova@upce.cz.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Krejčová
authors: Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Pardubice, Studentská 573, CZ-532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic.
authors: Jakub
authors: J
authors: Návesník
authors: Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Pardubice, Studentská 573, CZ-532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic.
authors: Jaroslava
authors: J
authors: Jičínská
authors: Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Pardubice, Studentská 573, CZ-532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic.
authors: Tomáš
authors: T
authors: Černohorský
mesh_terms: D018153:Czech Republic; D018552:Daucus carota / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000254:growth & development*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D058870:Food, Organic / Q000032:analysis*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D058871:Organic Agriculture; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
keywords: Carrots; Growing; ICP–MS; ICP–OES; Organic farming