This study is to clarify the composition and content differences of water-soluble nutrients in Lycium barbarum leaves(LBLs) from different areas. The total polysaccharides, free monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, nucleosides and amino acids in 35 batches of LBLs were analyzed with use of spectrophotometry, HPLC-ELSD and UPLC-MS/MS. The results showed that LBLs contained abundant polysaccharides, fructose, glucose, sucrose and maltose, with an average contents of 39.07, 12.69, 8.99, 17.44, 8.32 mg·g~(-1), respectively. Besides, eight nucleosides and twelve amino acids were detected in LBLs, and their average total contents were 54.95, 336.9 μg·g~(-1). Principal component analysis(PCA) and partial least squares discrimination analysis(PLS-DA) of carbohydrate, nucleoside and amino acid showed that the water-soluble nutrients of the samples from Qinghai Province were significantly different from those from other areas mainly in asparagine, proline, glutamine, sucrose, adenine and guanosine. In this study, the compositions and contents of water-soluble nutrients in LBLs were preliminarily clarified, which provided basis for further development and utilization of LBLs resoures.
Keywords: Lycium barbarum; Lycium barbarum leaves; differences of production area; nutritional components; principal component analysis.