Mineral Profiling of Twenty Wild and Cultivated Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Growing in Morocco

Aromatic and medicinal plants (AMPs) have attracted a considerable attention owing to their medicinal and nutritional value. The main research focus in AMPs is devoted to bioactive compounds and related biological activities; however, little is known about their mineral profiling, hence the novelty of this work, which aims at investigating the mineral composition of 20 species of AMPs belonging to 10 botanical families growing in Morocco. Mineral profiling was determined using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer in various plant parts depending on each species. Wide variations were found in mineral content among the studied plants. Major elements were K (3987.49 ± 319.01-36,707.01 ± 2936.56 mg/kg), Ca (862.54 ± 69.86-32,836.15 ± 2626.89 mg/kg), P (1065.77 ± 86.33-6328.83 ± 506.32 mg/kg), Mg (986.96 ± 79.66-4935.41 ± 394.82 mg/kg), and Na (28.21 ± 2.23-5792.26 ± 463.38 mg/kg). Fe (62.09 ± 4.96-1636.24 ± 130.89 mg/kg), Mn (10.63 ± 0.85-124.72 ± 9.85 mg/kg), B (5.64 ± 0.45-71.33 ± 5.71 mg/kg), Zn (8.94 ± 0.72-47.01 ± 3.76 mg/kg), and Cu (2.06 ± 0.14-15.12 ± 1.20 mg/kg) were detected at minor levels. Most of the investigated plants were shown to be good sources of minerals. Important correlations were found among different minerals. These outcomes were confirmed by principal component analysis, which separate among studied plants and minerals through the first two principal components. According to obtained results, the studied plants could provide a new promising source of necessary minerals for human diet as well as other various applications.