Characterization of Amino Acid Composition in Fruits of Three Rosa roxburghii Genotypes

Rosa roxburghii Tratt., is an important commercial horticultural crop in China due to its nutritional and medicinal value. To date, the economic production of a single predominant cultivar of R. roxburghii ('Guinong 5') consumes 30 000 hm2 in China. Here, we characterize the amino acid composition of 'Guinong 5' and two novel genotypes (AL11, GP6) that prove valuable and deserve wide application. Here, 17 amino acids (acid hydrolysis of proteins) were detected in 'Guinong 5', AL11 and GP6 fruits, with Glutamine and Asparagine being abundant, and L-cystine being absent. The essential amino acids and total amino acids were the highest in AL11, while Asparagine was most abundant in GP6. For the free amino acid, 18 amino acids and 9 metabolites were detected in 'Guinong 5', AL11 and GP6 fruits. γ-aminobutyric acid, L-arginine and ornithine were the most abundant in 'Guinong 5', while phosphoserine and taurine were the highest in AL11. In comparison, GP6 had the highest levels of L-asparagine, an essential amino acid, and the highest total N containing compounds.