Authenticity Assessment of Crocus Sativus Employing Two Methods: Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and LIBS-DFA Integrated Approach

The purity of crocus sativus or saffron (Saf), as a valuable plant in food and medicinal products, is measured using data obtained from laser-induced plasma emission spectra through two approaches: intensity-vs-concentration calibrationbased model (ICCBM) and discriminant function analysis (DFA).Since a plant with a much lower price and the appearance specifications similar to Saf called safflower (Flw) is often added as an impurity to Saf, six standard samples with 4%Cu (for more accurate measurement of plasma temperature) and different percentages of Saf and Flw and one target sample (4.00%Cu + 67.21%Saf + 28.79%Flw) are prepared.The spectra of the pure samples show that calcium and potassium concentrations of Flw are significantly more than those of Saf.Hence, the concentrations of these elements are used as an indicator to evaluate the impurity amount of Saf.In both ICCBM and DFA, the Saf concentration ( ) of the target is determined by the calibration curves: in the former from the intensity of indicator elements against and in the later from a statistical characteristic versus .The error percentages of obtained from ICCBM and DFA relative to the certified value (67.21%) are equal to 5.60% and 4.98%, respectively, while the error of the mean of the amounts derived from these two approaches is 0.31%.