The role of controlled and environmentally conditioned shade drying techniques on macro and microelement concentrations of commonly consumed fruit and vegetables

Potassium amounts of shade dried fruits were specified to be between 6554.85 (red apple) and 22226.63 mg/kg (Green apple). Phosphorus quantities of shade dried fruits were determined between 628.82 (pear) and 2433.81 mg/kg (blueberry). In addition, among shade-dried fruits, the lowest and highest Mg were detected in red apple (237.37 mg/kg) and orange (1362.97 mg/kg), respectively. While the lowest and highest Cu contents of oven-dried fruits were detected in lime (1.64 mg/kg) and grape (6.42 mg/kg), the Cu contents of sun-dried fruits were 1.52 mg/kg (lime) and 6.41 mg/kg (blueberry) was assessed between. The Cu content of fruits dried in the shade was determined between 1.86 mg/kg (green apple) and 5.56 mg/kg (grape). In addition, the Zn contents of fruits dried in the oven were recorded between 0.89 mg/kg (red apple) and 6.48 mg/kg (lime), while the Zn contents of fruits dried in the sun were determined between 0.98 mg/kg (red apple) and 5.63 mg/kg (strawberry). While the lowest phosphorus was detected in green pepper, the P contents of other vegetables were higher than the K, Mg and Ca contents of the vegetables. K quantities of oven and sun dried vegetables were found to be between 18772.6 mg/kg (okra) and 45226.0 mg/kg (pumpkin) to 14745.8 mg/kg (okra) and 44137.9 mg/kg (pumpkin), respectively. The K amounts of shade-dried vegetables were found between 18353.5 (okra) and 48991.5 mg/kg (pumpkin). Fe contents of oven-dried vegetables were recorded between 27.50 mg/kg (tomato) and 94.98 mg/kg (pumpkin). Cu contents of vegetables were recorded to be low depending on the drying types. Depending on the drying types, the highest macro element contents in fruits were K, followed by P and Mg in decreasing order. Additionally, it has been observed that, in general, vegetables dried in the oven contain more Mn than vegetables dried in the sun and shade.