Storage protein and amino acid contents of Tunisian and Chinese pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivars

In the present study, free amino acids and seed protein contents of pomegranate germplasm from Tunisia and China were conducted using Hitachi L8800 amino acid analyzer, Bradford and Kjeldahl methods. The work offers more consideration to protein pomegranate seeds which can be with great importance regarding the nutritive seed value of this crop. In other hand, the protein and amino acids contents were used to compare the Tunisian and Chinese pomegranate cultivars based on multivariate analyses (principal component and clustering analyses). Results show that the Tunisian and Chinese pomegranate seeds were rich in storage proteins independently of organoleptic taste as sweet, sour sweet or sour. Qualitatively, the storage protein and free amino acids of pomegranate seeds were identical. Besides, the segregation of Chinese and Tunisian pomegranate cultivars into three groups was reveled based on high, low or moderate amino acids contents. Statistically, the differences between organoleptic groups (sweet, sour sweet and sour) were not significant (P < 0.05). However, the differences between pomegranate cultivars were statistically significant within groups. The separation of cultivars is independent to the organoleptic taste neither the geographical origin.