Heavy Metal Index
Ask the IndexAboutIndex Pro

Comparative studies of four cumin landraces grown in Egypt

Cite this pageVersion history

Overview

Ahmed et al. characterised four Egyptian Cuminum cyminum landraces from four governorates (El Gharbia 29%, El Menia 49%, Assiut 2%, Qena 24% of Egyptian production) for seed physical properties, essential oil composition and percentage, fatty acid profiles, ISSR molecular marker diversity, and responses to salinity stress. The study contains no heavy-metal or elemental contamination data. Its relevance to the cumin ingredient page is limited to: documenting cumin’s production geography in Egypt (a significant producer), confirming the botanical identity of samples as Cuminum cyminum, and providing context on intraspecific variation that could affect accumulation potential if studied in future.

Key numbers

Seed physical properties (Table 1):

  • Width range: 0.135 mm (El Gharbia) to 0.206 mm (Assiut)
  • Length range: 0.638 mm (El Gharbia) to 0.669 mm (Assiut)
  • Bulk density range: 810-1250 kg/m3
  • 1000-seed weight: 0.219 g (El Gharbia) to 0.247 g (Qena)

Essential oil composition highlights (Table 2):

  • Essential oil %: 5.55 (El Gharbia) to 8.04 (Assiut) v/w
  • Major components: cumin aldehyde 22.71-25.19%, gamma-terpinene 13.56-14.14%, beta-pinene 9.59-10.21%, gamma-terpinen-7-al 18.27-21.13%, p-cymene 6.11-8.31%

No data on lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), or any other toxic or essential mineral elements.

Methods (brief)

Physical properties: seed dimension measurements, bulk density, 1000-seed weight (variance analysis). Essential oil: GC-MS of isolated oils. Fatty acids: GC analysis of fixed oil profiles. Molecular markers: ISSR analysis (10 primers, 97 bands). Salinity stress: germination and seedling trials at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 dS/m salt concentrations.

Implications

No heavy-metal data: This paper contributes no contamination-profile information and should not be cited as a source for cumin heavy-metal values. It is retained as a Cuminum cyminum species-identity and origin-context source.

Update history

No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.

Referenced by