Abstract :
Effects of structure and soil amendments on percentages of amino acids were examined with three hypotheses for the rare, ancient, drought resistant, indigenous Andean crop plant, Mirabilis expansa (Ruiz and Pav.) Standl. (Nyctaginaceae), grown in southern Illinois. ANOVA and LS-Means analyses were run as pair-wise comparisons. Percentages of amino acids, crude protein, and total protein were dependent variables. Peat and steer manure percentages, used to amend sand plots at the time of their construction, were the soil amendments. Significance for p-values was at .05 or less. ANOVAs indicated several amino acids were present in significantly different amounts between roots and leafy parts of plants. There was a statistically inconsistent effect from peat, and slight significance from steer manure. Exploratory analyses also indicate significantly different amounts of some amino acids between two indigenous varieties of the crop.
Keyword :
Amino acid profiles; Mirabilis expansa ; soil amendments; variety; structure; Nyctaginaceae.