Mineral and centesimal composition evaluation of conventional and organic cultivars sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) using chemometric tools

•A mineral and centesimal evaluation of sweet potatoes was performed.•The results showed that organic samples showed high mineral content.•Conventional culture samples showed high sodium content.•Multivariate analysis proved to be a good tool to evaluate different forms of cultivation. Sweet potato is a food consumed in the world. In this work, the minerals and centesimal composition in sweet potatoes of organic and conventional cultivars was investigated. The accuracy was confirmed with a certified reference material of apple leaves (NIST 1515). The quantification of the samples was performed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and the digestion efficiency was evaluated by residual carbon content. The mean concentrations (in mg/100 g) of minerals were: 23.5 and 40.7 (Ca); 0.082 and 0.159 (Cu); 0.303 and 0.481 (Fe); 197 and 381 (K); 166 and 35.7 (Mg); 0.183 and 1.15 (Mn); 68.6 and 0.433 (Na); 54.1 and 62.2 (P) and 0.197 and 0.261 (Zn) for conventional and organic cultivars, respectively. Average centesimal concentrations in conventional and organic cultivars (in %), were: 72 and 72 (moisture); 0.87 and 0.90 (ashes); 1.5 and 1.4 (proteins); 0.63 and 0.54 (lipids) and 24.8 and 23.9 (carbohydrates).