Geographical and botanical differentiation of Mediterranean prickly pear using specific chemical markers

The aim of the present study was to differentiate Mediterranean prickly pear according to geographical originand Cypriot prickly pear according to botanical origin based on individual vitamins, antioxidants and mineralcontent combined with chemometrics. Seventy-four prickly pear samples were collected during the harvestperiods 2019 and 2020 from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain. Likewise, 43 prickly pear samples were collectedfrom three different Cypriot cultivars (yellow, red and spineless) during the same harvest periods. UPLC-MS/MSwas used to determine individual vitamins and antioxidants; ICP-MS was used to determine minerals and UVspectrophotometry was used to determine total antioxidants and antioxidant activities. Classification rate basedon the cross validation method was 86.5% according to geographical origin using 24 chemical markers and90.7% according to botanical origin using 14 chemical markers. Satisfactory differentiation of geographical andbotanical origin of prickly pear was achieved using analytical data including specific chemical markers incombination with chemometrics