Abstract:

The fruits, leaves and barks of Morus nigra L. and M. alba L. var. tatarica, two special plants in Xinjiang
autonomous region, were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), atomic absorption spectrometry,
UV spectrophotometry and conventional methods for amino acids, mineral elements, flavonoids, polysaccharides, and
alkaloids. The results showed that different plant parts of both mulberry species were rich in a wide variety of amino acids (17
amino acids) with an essential amino acid to total amino acid ratio higher than 0.60, and contained abundant health beneficial
mineral elements and bioactive ingredients. Alkaloids, flavonoids and polysaccharides were the most abundant in the fruits
and barks of Morus nigra L., and the fruits of M. alba L. var. tatarica (1.393, 11.999 and 337.491 mg/g on a dry basis),
respectively. Four principal components, which had a cumulative variance contribution ratio of 97.000% to the information
on 29 initial indexes, were extracted in principal component analysis (PCA). Morus nigra L. scored higher overall, thereby
having higher medicinal value.

Key words: amino acids, mineral elements, flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, principal component analysis (PCA)