QUANTITATION OF MINERAL ELEMENTS OF DIFFERENT FRUIT POLLEN GRAINS

In our investigations we accomplished quantitative measurements using energy dispersive X-ray analysis on mineral elements of pollen grain s amples belonging to different fruit species such as apple (Malus domes tica Borkh.), pear (Pyrus communis L.), cherry (Cerasus avium L.), sou r cherry (Cerasus vulgaris Mill.), European plum (Prunus domestica L.) , Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.), almond (Amygdalus communis L .), apricot (Armeniaca vulgaris Lam.), quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) and peach (Persica vulgaris Mill.). Pollen grains are particles but, a s a result of their size ranging in our samples from 19.2 to 31.2 mu m in diameter, they are considered as bulk samples. Link's ZAF-P/B prog ram was used for the quantitative evaluation of data. The main constit uents were Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, while others such as Na, Al, Si and Cu , whose intensity in the spectra did not exceed the standard deviation , were excluded from further quantitative evaluation. Differences in t he elemental concentrations of different fruit pollens were significan t (p > 5%).