Green direct determination of mineral elements in artichokes by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence.

Near infrared (NIR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy were investigated to predict the concentration of calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc in artichoke samples. Sixty artichokes were purchased from different Spanish areas (Benicarló, Valencia and Murcia). NIR and XRF spectra, combined with partial least squares (PLS) data treatment, were used to develop chemometric models for the prediction of mineral concentration. To obtain reference data, samples were mineralised and analysed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Coefficients of determination obtained for the regression between predicted values and reference ones for calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese and zinc were 0.61, 0.79, 0.53, 0.77, 0.54 and 0.60 for NIR and 0.96, 0.93, 0.80, 0.79, 0.76 and 0.90 for XRF, respectively. Both assayed methodologies, offer green alternatives to classical mineral analysis, but XRF provided the best results in order to be used as a quantitative screening method.