Pakchoi ( Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis) is cultivated for its high nutritional value; however, the nutritional diversity of different pakchoi cultivars is rarely investigated. Herein, we performed widely targeted metabolic profiling analyses of five popular pakchois. A total of 670 metabolites were detected, which could be divided into 13 categories. The accumulation patterns of main nutritional metabolites among the five pakchois were significantly different and complementary. Moreover, the pakchoi cultivar ‘QYC’ showed quite different metabolomic profiles compared with other pakchois. The Venn diagram showed that the 75 differential metabolites were shared among the comparison groups (‘QYC’ vs. ‘MET’/ ‘NBC’/ ‘PPQ’/ ‘XQC’), of which 52 metabolites were upregulated in ‘QYC’. The phenolic acids had the largest variations between ‘QYC’ and the other pakchoi cultivars. These findings expand metabolomic information on different pakchoi cultivars and further provide new insights into the selection and breeding of excellent pakchoi cultivars.
Each pakchoi cultivar has unique nutritional characteristics and metabolomic profiles.
Phenolic acids and flavonoids were the main secondary metabolites in pakchoi.
The phenolic acids had the most variation between ‘QYC’ and the other cultivars.
Three phenolic acid metabolites were detected in pakchoi for the first time.