Journal of Applied Spectroscopy, Vol. 88, No. 3, July, 2021 (Russian Original Vol. 88, No. 3, May–June, 2021) ASSESSMENT OF THE ELEMENTAL PROFILE OF LEAFY VEGETABLES BY SYNCHROTRON-RADIATION-INDUCED ENERGY DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY A. S. Bharti, a S. Sharma, a A. K. Singh, b UDC 543.42;535.37 M. K. Tiwari, b and K. N. Uttam a,* The nutrient profiling of green leafy vegetables is largely concentrated on biochemical assays and their elemental composition is often overlooked. At the same time, the investigation of the elemental composition of plants is essential, as they are required in several metabolic processes for the normal growth and development of the human body and their deficiency can lead to several clinical disorders. In this paper, we consider the potential of the synchrotron-radiation-induced energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy technique as a rapid, sensitive, and simultaneous multielemental detection tool to investigate the elemental composition of different elements present in some leafy vegetables: dill, fenugreek, mustard, and chenopodium. The X-ray fluorescence spectrа of the leaves of dill, fenugreek, mustard, and chenopodium were excited by synchrotron X-ray radiation having an energy of 15 keV and recorded in the energy range <20 keV. The recorded spectrum shows the presence of potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, arsenic, and selenium with varying concentrations in different leafy vegetables. PyMca software was applied to determine the concentration of the various detected elements. The relative quantitative comparison of the detected elements shows that chenopodium leaves are a rich source of potassium among all the leafy vegetables studied. The leaves of mustard and chenopodium are abundant in calcium, while the leaves of dill and fenugreek have a higher content of trace elements like manganese, iron, copper, nickel, selenium and zinc. Herein, the role of the detected elements in human and plant health is also described. Keywords: synchrotron radiation, X-ray fluorescence, leafy vegetables, elemental analysis. Introduction. Green leafy vegetables are widely present in Indian cuisine, as they are readily available, affordable, and provide a range of dietary benefits. Therefore, they are consumed by the inhabitants of the low and middle income group of countries because at the consumer level these are a source of low caloric food, fibers, antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and trace metals that provide immense health benefits beyond basic nutrition and are also a cheap source of energy [1]. Being rich in health protecting compounds and elements, they have garnered immense attention for its consumption in daily diets in order to alleviate the problem of malnutrition [2]. The phytochemicals present in the leaves of green vegetables are reported to be effective in the treatment of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension [3]. The antioxidant compounds present in the green leaves have the capability to prevent oxidative degradation [4, 5]. Green leafy vegetables such as dill (soya), fenugreek (methi), mustard (sarson), and chenopodium (bathua) are available seasonally and often incorporated in the diet as they are a rich source of several nutrients, vitamins, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, riboflavin, folic acid, and minerals [6]. The dill plant is a glabrous aromatic plant rich in nutritive mineral components. It has different applications in biological and pharmacological studies because of its antimicrobial, antioxidative, and anti- spasmodic activities [7]. The mustard leaf is one of the most nutritious green leafy vegetables and an excellent source of dietary fiber and vitamins A, B, C, E, and K [8, 9]. Further, fenugreek leaves exhibit hypoglycemic, hypercholesterolemic, antioxidative, laxative, and fungicide effects [10]. Similarly, chenopodium is a fast-growing plant with numerous health benefits such as diuretic, laxative, sedative, anthelmintic, hepatoprotective, and antiparasitic properties [9, 11, 12]. Minerals and phytonutrients, like calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, chromium, and selenium, are required for the growth and maintenance of the human body. These minerals are part of the enzymatic reaction and hormones. The insufficient intake of these minerals might be responsible for their nutritional deficiency. 0021-9037/21/8803-0653 ©2021 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 653 a Saha's Spectroscopy Laboratory, Department of Physics at University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India; email: kailash.uttam@rediffmail.com; b Synchrotron Utilization Section, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India. Abstract of article is published in Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 88, No. 3, p. 502, May–June, 2021. DOI 10.1007/s10812-021-01221-4