Analysis and Assessment of Amino Acid Component in Flowers of Hibiscus mutabilis L. among Different Cultivars

In order to explore the nutritional worth in various cultivars of hibiscus(Hibiscus mutabilis L.), the component and content of amino acids in 18 cultivars of hibiscus were analyzed in this research. The results showed that plentiful kinds of free amino acids (17 kinds) were detected in these 18 cultivars of hibiscus. The total amount of amino acids was 7.36~13.28 mg·g⁻¹. The content of essential amino acids was 1.92~3.42 mg·g⁻¹, which accounted for 22.33%~37.51% of the total amino acids, the component of amino acid in ‘MDH’ was closest to the proportion of amino acids needed for human being, indicating that it had greatest edible quality, taste amino acids were rich and accounted for 43.82%~66.72% of total amino acids, among which umami amino acids showed the highest content, ‘JXZ’ had the highest taste amino acid content. The content of medicinal amino acids in Hibiscus mutabilis L. was relatively high, accounting for 58.73%~71.61% of total amino acids, ‘JXZ’ had the most medicinal amino acids. To sum up, the variety of amino acids in Hibiscus mutabilis L. was complete, and there were certain differences in content. It had great edible and medicinal development and utilization value. Among them, the development prospects of ‘MDH’ and ‘JXZ’ were the best.