Variations in mineral content of opium poppy seeds (Papaver somniferum L.)

Due to its special chemistry, opium poppy is a valuable raw material for the pharmaceutical and food industries. This research aimed to determine the mineral content of seeds in eight opium poppy accessions. We studied one registered culinary, (‘Zeno Plus’); three industrial varieties (‘Botond’, ‘Hunor’, ‘Korona’), and four strains of landrace origin (‘Lilla’, ‘MB’, ‘T18’, ‘T28’) using ICP-OES, to open the way for their utilisation in functional food development. Highly significant differences in mineral content were found among the accessions. ‘Zeno Plus’ had the highest macromineral content (15976.667±440.038 mg/kg d.w. for Ca; 3733.000±78.689 mg/kg d.w. for Mg; 8219.333±47.648 mg/kg d.w. for K), ‘Botond’ accumulated the most of the iron (110.043±3.966 mg/kg d.w.), whilst ‘MB’ proved to be the most effective in the accumulation of Zn (84.233±1.478 mg/kg d.w.), Cu (18.660±0.897 mg/kg d.w.), Na (68.237±1.410 mg/kg d.w.) and Mn (108.267±2.706 mg/kg d.w.). All three accessions are promising materials for food fortification or biofortification breeding programs