Determination of mineral contents of Digitalis purpurea L. and Digitalis lanata Ehrh

Abstract

Digitalis purpurea and Digitalis lanata are commonly used in treatment of heart diseases, the species has recently introduced for cultivation in the state of Uttarakhand, India.The mineral contents of cultivated plants of these species have to be within permissible limit for its effectiveness.Using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), this paper describes analysis of selected minerals [viz.Boron (B), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Arsenic (As) and Lead (Pb)] in various plant parts of D. purpurea and D. lanata at pre-and post flowering stages.Our results revealed that the concentration of B, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, As and Pb as 8.16±0.04 to 27.18±1.11,7.30±0.03to 21.16±0.20,62.69±1.45 to 247.27±5.29,0.65±0.08 to 6.13±0.05,9.19±0.01 to 16.15±0.05,0.02±0.0 to 25.27±0.20,0.83±0.04 to 4.98±0.06and 4.70±0.02 to 8.19±0.04ug g -1 , respectively.The study reports that the mineral contents were well within the permissible range for medicinal uses.Therefore, the species are recommended for large scale cultivation.