LAUSR

ABSTRACT Dendrobium officinale is an important medicinal plant in traditional Chinese medicine. The consumption of D. officinale has increased rapidly in recent years due to the health awareness among Chinese people. The present study aimed to determine trace elements levels in 42 D. officinale samples and to utilize the elemental data for identifying the cultivation technique. Eighteen trace elements (B, V, Cr, As, Mn, Fe, Mo, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr, Sn, Ti, Al, Co, As Pb, Cd, and Bi) were determined by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Of the 11 essential elements, the mean concentrations ranged from 30.6 µg kg−1 (Mo) in D. officinale with greenhouse cultivation to 161 mg kg−1 (Fe) in D. officinale with rock cultivation, and the contributions of Mn may exceed the dietary reference intake value by the uptake of 20 g of D. officinale. Of the seven toxic elements, the mean concentrations ranged from 3.29 µg kg−1 (Bi) in the D. officinale with greenhouse cultivation to 342 mg kg−1 (Al) in the D. officinale with rock cultivation, and the contributions of Al may exceed the provisional tolerable daily intake value by the uptake of 20 g of D. officinale. The concentrations of seven metals (Bi, Pb, Fe, Al, Cr, As, and Mo) were utilized to identify the cultivation technique of the analyzed D. officinale samples through linear discriminant analysis.