Murat Ali Turan*, Nilgün Taban†, Nilüfer Türkmen‡ and Süleyman Taban§

Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, 16059 Gorukle-Bursa, Turkey Fax: (90)(224)2941402, Tel: (90)(224)2941549; E-mail: maturan@uludag.edu.tr

†Agricultural Engineer, 37100 Kastamonu, Turkey.

‡Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara University, 06110 Ankara, Turkey.

§Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kastamonu University, 37100 Kastamonu, Turkey.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the selenium concentration of garlic bulbs, which are widely grown in different parts of Turkey. For this purpose, 88 samples of garlic bulbs were collected from eight intensive garlic growing areas of Turkey, namely, Kastamonu (23), Balikesir (18), Kirklareli (11), Mugla (9), Kahramanmaras (8), Karaman (6), Hatay (8) and Antalya (5). The selenium concentrations of the garlic bulbs were determined using ICP-OES techniques. The selenium concentrations in the dry and fresh weight of garlic bulbs were determined as being in the ranges 1.85-9.33 mg/kg and 0.46-2.33 mg/kg, respectively. The overall average of the 88 samples was found to be 3.87 mg/kg in dry weight and 0.97 mg/kg in fresh weight. As a result, the garlic bulbs from Kastamonu showed the highest selenium concentration, which indicates that the recommended dietary allowance of selenium, 70 micrograms, could be supplied by these garlic bulbs.

Garlic, Selenium, ICP-OES.