The Nutritional Composition of Maca in Hypocotyls (Lepidium meyenii Walp.) Cultivated in Different Regions of China

Table 3

Amino acid composition (mg/g protein) in maca samples of different cultivation areas and colour types.

Amino acids	Cultivation areas				Colour type			FAO/WHO reference model
	Peru-Y	Xiaopingba-Y	Yongsheng-Y	Yulong-Y	Pamirs-Y	Pamirs-P	Pamirs-B
Essential amino acids
THR	25.57	24.75	43.74	24.83	25.38	23.64	28.40	40
VAL	47.02	39.51	62.51	37.12	81.79	37.28	47.06	50
MET	7.08	6.99	12.20	57.99	6.84	5.91	6.77	35
PHE	31.61	27.86	39.18	25.74	25.68	24.37	29.54	60
ILE	33.44	29.23	42.67	26.41	26.40	24.78	29.60	40
LEU	44.05	40.29	51.59	35.54	37.32	35.10	41.33	70
LYS	36.29	43.64	61.01	38.88	40.56	38.11	45.37	55
Nonessential amino acids
ASP	67.00	61.45	91.84	54.16	66.54	59.47	67.06
GLU	76.70	73.17	123.59	61.58	83.47	79.90	98.78
SER	22.03	19.97	25.62	17.89	20.40	18.67	22.72
HIS	15.29	25.11	34.25	18.32	22.14	18.98	25.80
GLY	35.72	44.95	42.10	31.64	34.68	33.03	38.36
ARG	76.47	172.64	238.91	112.82	103.03	105.04	129.11
ALA	39.72	39.57	41.82	33.10	30.24	28.88	33.71
TYR	18.83	18.23	21.84	15.64	18.36	17.52	19.58
CYS	1.37	2.21	2.93	1.83	2.04	1.87	2.30
PRO	298.57	346.89	319.54	287.46	330.74	322.85	422.92
EAA	225.07	212.27	312.90	246.51	243.98	189.19	228.07
NEAA	651.69	804.19	942.43	634.44	711.65	686.20	860.34
TAA	876.76	1016.46	1255.33	880.95	955.63	875.39	1088.41
E/T	0.26	0.21	0.25	0.28	0.26	0.22	0.21

EAA: essential amino acids. NEAA: nonessential amino acids. TAA: total amino acids. E/T: the ratio of EAA to TAA.