Amino Acids Content of Different Plants from South Sinai as Affected by Different Habitat Conditions

Abstract

The objectives of this work were to determine the amino acids contents of ecophysiologically different plants on a seasonal basis and the relationship among amino acids and soil properties. The plant species investigated were Zilla spinosa and Peganum harmala in the spring and autumn seasons during Wadi El-Arbaeen (WAR) and Wadi Ghrandal (WGH). The values of pH and electric conductivity (EC) of soil solutions at the up, mid and down streams were higher in WGH than in WAR, while unlike of mineral analysis i.e., S-, Cl-, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+ and K+. Amino acids content in the two studied species were different in the spring and autumn seasons under the two locations. According to the rank method, the amino acids (proline, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, leucine, isoleucine and alanine) concentrations of the autumn season were greater than those of the spring season in Z. spinosa under WAR, and in P. harmala in WAR and WGH., while the spring season were higher than autumn season in Z. spinosa under WGH. While the amino acids histidine, cysteine and methionine were the least. Based on PCA, the amino acids can be classified into four groups. The amino acids i.e. aspartic acid, cysteine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan  and proline were positively correlated with pH, K+, Na+, S-, Ca2+, Cl-, EC and Mg2+ in the spring and autumn seasons in WAR. On the other hand, the amino acids aspartic acid, methionine and isoleucine with pH, K+, Na+, water content (WC) and EC, as well as the amino acid tryptophan  with S-, Cl- and Ca2+ showed positive correlation in the spring and autumn seasons in WGH. It seemed that the Z. spinosa and P. harmala were adapted  with drought conditions in WAR and WGH.