## 3 Results and Discussion
### Amino Acid Profile  
In the analyzed samples, a total of 21 amino acids were identified (Table 7). Our findings indicate that the predominant essential amino acids in EBT and EBF were lysine (731.0 and 838.8 mg/100 gdw), arginine (155.8 and 393.5 mg/100 gdw), isoleucine (109.4 and 312.3 mg/100 gdw), and leucine (116.6 and 295.2 mg/100 gdw). [PERSON] et al. [34] reported that leucine, isoleucine, and valine contribute significantly to the synthesis of volatile compounds responsible for odor and aroma in plants. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_E. billardieri_} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_E. planum_} \\ \cline{2-5}
**Name** & **EBT** & **EBF** & **EPT** & **EPF** \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Nonessential Amino Acids} \\ Asparagine & 710.5 \(\pm\) 17.7 b & 840.1 \(\pm\) 3.5 a & 358.5 \(\pm\) 54.2 d & 451.7 \(\pm\) 41.6 c \\ Asparatic acid & 94.6 \(\pm\) 8.9 a & 86.0 \(\pm\) 7.7 ab & 23.8 \(\pm\) 2.0 c & 49.8 \(\pm\) 2.8 bc \\ Serine & 48.0 \(\pm\) 4.4 b & 69.4 \(\pm\) 5.3 a & 28.0 \(\pm\) 2.1 c & 56.0 \(\pm\) 2.8 b \\ Alanine & 5.3 \(\pm\) 0.7 a & 51.3 \(\pm\) 8.0 a & 53.4 \(\pm\) 18.4 a & 40.4 \(\pm\) 6.1 a \\ Glycine & tr & tr & 2.1 \(\pm\) 14 a & 1.9 \(\pm\) 0.6 a \\ Glutamine & 732.8 \(\pm\) 18.4 a & 824.8 \(\pm\) 31.3 a & 318.3 \(\pm\) 64.3 c & 523.6 \(\pm\) 4.6 b \\ Cysteine & 4.1 \(\pm\) 0.7 b & 6.3 \(\pm\) 0.1 a & 2.9 \(\pm\) 0.8 b & 3.7 \(\pm\) 0.1 b \\ Methionine sulfoxide & 637.8 \(\pm\) 42.0 d & 1521.1 \(\pm\) 4.0 a & 1155.4 \(\pm\) 43.7 ab & 1123.2 \(\pm\) 9.3 c \\ Glutamic acid & 156.7 \(\pm\) 3.2 c & 190.1 \(\pm\) 2.2 b & 104.9 \(\pm\) 4.2 d & 219.9 \(\pm\) 5.3 a \\ Proline & 486.5 \(\pm\) 16.0 c & 741.9 \(\pm\) 64.7 b & 1301.5 \(\pm\) 76.4 a & 1293.0 \(\pm\) 26.1 a \\ Tyrosine & 99.5 \(\pm\) 1.7 b & 167.9 \(\pm\) 6.7 a & 79.4 \(\pm\) 5.8 c & 86.5 \(\pm\) 5.3 ab \\ Total nonessential amino acids & 2489.3 & 3757.0 & 3428.2 & 3849.7 \\ Essential amino acids & 271.7 \(\pm\) 11.7 a & 336.6 \(\pm\) 185.3 a & 196.2 \(\pm\) 6.4 a & 241.8 \(\pm\) 1.9 a \\ Threonine & 731.1 \(\pm\) 19.0 b & 838.8 \(\pm\) 13.6 a & 368.0 \(\pm\) 20.8 d & 529.2 \(\pm\) 4.1 c \\ Histidine & 25.2 \(\pm\) 0.2 c & 87.4 \(\pm\) 3.6 a & 8.1 \(\pm\) 0.8 d & 53.0 \(\pm\) 0.9 b \\ Arginine & 155.8 \(\pm\) 12.1 d & 393.5 \(\pm\) 23.0 a & 276.0 \(\pm\) 5.6 b & 217.0 \(\pm\) 11.3 c \\ Valine & 8.7 \(\pm\) 1.7 c & 66.3 \(\pm\) 43.8 bc & 133.3 \(\pm\) 21.2 ab & 159.3 \(\pm\) 23.5 a \\ Methionine & tr & tr & 1.68 \(\pm\) 0.8 & tr \\ Leucine & 116.6 \(\pm\) 9.6 b & 295.2 \(\pm\) 2.0 a & 84.9 \(\pm\) 5.8 c & 85.5 \(\pm\) 4.7 c \\ Phenylalanine & 54.5 \(\pm\) 4.2 b & 106.3 \(\pm\) 10.4 a & 111.8 \(\pm\) 2.9 a & 123.5 \(\pm\) 8.5 a \\ Trypophan & 147.3 \(\pm\) 9.2 c & 197.0 \(\pm\) 1.5 a & 95.5 \(\pm\) 1.7 d & 164.4 \(\pm\) 5.8 b \\ Isoleucine & 109.4 \(\pm\) 0.1 b & 312.3 \(\pm\) 8.9 a & 58.7 \(\pm\) 14.4 c & 56.5 \(\pm\) 10.8 c \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: Amino acids profiles of the two studied plants (mg/100 gdw) \({}^{*}\). Among the major non-essential amino acids, methionine sulfoxide (637.8 and 1512.1 mg/100 gdw), asparagine (710.5 and 840.1 mg/100 gdw), and glutamine (732.8 and 824.8 mg/100 gdw) were predominant in EBT and EBF, respectively. In the EPT and EPF, essential amino acids such as lysine (368.0 and 529.2 mg/100 gdw), threonine (276.0 and 217.0 mg/100 gdw), and arginine (196.2 and 241.80 mg/100 gdw) were also prevalent, alongside non-essential amino acids like glutamic acid (104.9 and 219.9 mg/100 gdw) and proline (1301.5 and 1293.0 mg/100 gdw g). Furthermore, it was observed that valine and phenylalanine were present in higher concentrations in _E. planum_ than in _E. billardieri_. Previous research has shown that the aerial parts of _E. martiimum_ and _E. campestre_ contain significant levels of essential amino acids, including leucine, lysine, and arginine, and are rich in non-essential amino acids such as glutamic acid, glycine and proline [17]. As shown in Table 7, the amino acids levels in the thorns were lower than those in the flowers.