Screening of early-maturing amaranth accessions from the VIR collection for the amino acid composition of seeds

Background. In recent years, with the growing awareness of the need for health protection among consumers and producers, nutritional trends have also changed, and the interest in functional foods has increased. Amaranth is a valuable and promising multipurpose crop, a record holder in the content of complete protein in seeds and leaves, possessing rich genetic diversity, plasticity, and high adaptability to unfavorable environmental conditions. Materials and methods . The objective was to assess amino acid profiles in 105 amaranth accessions from the collection of the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), previously identified as early-maturing under the conditions of Northwest Russia, atypical for this crop. Seed protein content was measured by the Kjeldahl method, and amino acid composition was analyzed using ion exchange chromatography. Results . The protein content of amaranth seeds was quantified, and the amino acid profile that included 17 amino acids was determined. Grain forms of amaranth manifested low variability in protein content. The group of ultra-early accessions showed a significant increase in protein levels (+9.8%). Differences were observed among the maturity groups in the content of serine, which plays a significant role in the formation of plant response to abiotic stresses. Interspecies differences in amino acid composition were recorded for Amaranthus cruentus L. and A. hypochondriacus L. The screening resulted in identifying genotypes with high protein content, high amounts of individual amino acids, and a set of valuable agronomic traits. Such accessions may be recommended for breeding programs aimed at the development of early cold-resistant cultivars of grain amaranth with high protein content after obtaining stable parameters of agronomic traits during subsequent analyses of the accessions identified in the current study.