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Title
Abstract
The content of sugars was determined in the tree saps of six species from the Podkarpacie region. The experimental material included the silver birch sap (Betula pendula Roth.), downy birch sap (B. pubescens Ehrh.), hornbeam sap (Carpinus betulus L.), Norway maple sap (Acer platanoides L.), boxelder sap (A. negundo L.), and white willow sap (Salix alba L.). The qualitative analysis of sugars was performed using a high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method, and the quantitative analysis was carried out with the use of a high performance liquid chromatography method with light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD). In the birch and the hornbeam saps, glucose and fructose prevailed and in the maple and willow saps: sucrose. The mean content of total sugars was as follows: 0.333 g/100 ml in the hornbeams saps; 1.109 g/100 ml in the boxelder saps; 0.897 g/100 ml in the silver birch saps; 0.672 g/100 ml in the white willow saps; 0.475 g/100 ml in the downy birch saps; and 1.083 g/100 ml in the Nowary maple saps. In the boxelder sap, the highest amount of total sugars was determined (1.214 g/100 ml), whereas in the hornbeam sap: the lowest amount of sugars (0.302 g/100 ml). The results of the silver birch analysis are the only ones that could be compared with the tree saps from the countries in Northern Europe and North America.
Keywords
tree saps, sugars, maple syrup, birch syrup, HPLC-ELSD, HPTLC