Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384437
Research Project: Characterizing and Evaluating the Genetic Diversity and Horticultural Value of Genetic Resources for Cacao and Other Tropical tree crops Economically important to the United States

Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory

Title: Effect of different edaphic crop conditions on the free amino acid profile of the PH-16 dry cacao beans

Author
item ARAUJO, QUINTINO - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item LOUREIRO, GUILHERME - Autonomous National University Of Mexico
item POVOAS, CID - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item STEINMACHER, STEPHANIE - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item SANTOS, STEPHANIE - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item AHNERT, DARIO - University Of Santa Cruz - Brazil
item Baligar, Virupax

Submitted to: Agronomy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/4/2021
Publication Date: 8/17/2021
Citation: Araujo, Q.R., Loureiro, G.A., Povoas, C., Steinmacher, S., Santos, S.S., Ahnert, D., Baligar, V.C. 2021. Effect of different edaphic crop conditions on the free amino acid profile of the PH-16 dry cacao beans. Agronomy. 11(8):1637. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081637.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081637

Interpretive Summary: Free amino acids in cacao beans are important biochemical characteristics of cacao quality and are precursors affecting the aroma and flavor of chocolate. The type of cacao genotype, local and regional conditions, different cultivation practices and soil types have an impact on the amount and types of free amino acid. In this paper we report that soil conditions had minimum impact on free amino acids contents of cacao beans. This information will be useful to cacao producer to consider cacao genotype as the primary source of variation to improve the quality of cacao beans. These results will be used by cacao breeders to improve cultivars and by cacao farmers to improve cacao quality.

Technical Abstract: Free amino acids in cacao beans are important precursors to the aroma and flavour of chocolate. The effect of different edaphic crop conditions on free amino acid profile of the PH-16 cacao clone was verified in this research with inferential and exploratory statistical techniques. The decreasing order of free amino acids in dry beans of the PH-16 cacao is: leucine, phenylalanine, glutamic acid, alanine, asparagine, tyrosine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, valine, isoleucine, glutamine, lysine, aspartic acid, serine, tryptophan, threonine, glycine. With the exception of lysine, no other free amino acid showed a significant difference between means of different edaphic conditions under the ANOVA F test. The free amino acids hydrophobics showed a great contribution to the explained variance of 58.01% of the first dimension of the principal component’s analysis. Glutamic acid stands out in the second dimension with 13.09% of the variation explained. Due to the stability of the biochemical profile of free amino acids in this clonal variety, it is recommended that the cacao producers should consider the genotype as the primary source of variation in the quality of the chocolate to be produced.