Abstract: The effects of variety, crop year, geographical origin and their interaction on rice mineral element contents were investigated to select the characteristic mineral elements for geographical origin discrimination by statistical analysis. A total of 90 field test samples were obtained from nine varieties planted in Chahayang, Wuchang and Jiansanjiang in three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, and 52 mineral elements in the samples were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that Mg, Ca, Cr, Mn, Zn, As, Rb, Sr, Ag, Cd, Ba, La, Sm, Dy, Ho, Er, Pb and U were greatly affected by geographical origins. Na, Mg, Al, Ca, Pb, U and V were significantly affected by crop years. Na, Cr, Co, Ni, Tl, U, Mg, Al, La and Ho were greatly affected by varieties. Principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA) were carried out on 18 mineral elements found to be directly related to geographical origins. The cumulative contribution rate of the first six principal components was 80.333%. The accuracy of the developed discriminant model in distinguishing three producing areas was 100% and the cross validation accuracy was also 100% corroborating that the model can allow correct discrimination of samples.

Key words: rice; mineral element; factor; differences in mineral contents; statistical analysis; geographic origin discrimination