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Background: Bee pollen has already proved to be a good supplement rich in iron and zinc. Studies on the application of flower pollen in the food industry and medicine have begun. Bearing in mind the prevalence of maize as a crop culture, its pollen will be easily available. The mineral composition of pollen of seven Serbian maize hybrids was analyzed in order to establish its nutritional value and the benefits of its implementation in the human diet using the inductively coupled plasma method., Results: The presence of twenty four different macro- (nine) and micronutrients (fifteen) was detected. The most common minerals were phosphorus and potassium, while arsenic, cobalt, lead, nickel and molybdenum were found in some samples., Conclusion: Comparing the results obtained with recommended or tolerable dietary intake references for adults, it was found that maize pollen can be used as a very good source of zinc, iron, chromium and manganese for humans. With regard to selenium content, pollen samples proved to be moderately good source of this important micronutrient. Contents of some elements (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cr, Se, Al and V) showed significant differences depending on hybrid type. In some samples increased concentrations of aluminum and vanadium were recorded, which may pose a potential problem due to their toxicity. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Background: Total soybean proteins, storage proteins, glycinin (11S) and β-conglycinin (7S) fractions and their respective subunits in seven soybean varieties were analyzed. In this work we also present the correlation between concentration and activity of bioactive proteins, lipoxygenase and proteinase inhibitors., Results: Glycinin and β-conglycinin comprise about 750 g kg(-1) of the bean storage protein and as such account for both quantity and quality of the kernel protein. The 11S concentration of the varieties studied ranged from 503.4 to 602.9 g kg(-1) and those of 7S varied from 178.2 to 230.6 g kg(-1) of total extractable proteins. The ratio of 11S/7S proteins varied from 2.43 to 3.29 among the varieties. A very strong positive correlation was found between the concentration of Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and activity of total trypsin inhibitor (r = 0.96). However, lipoxygenase concentration did not show a strong correlation with lipoxygenase activity., Conclusion: It appears that among the seven ZP soybean genotypes there are genotypes with different amounts of subunits that should be bred in the future for a desired level of protein components., (Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry.)