LAUSR

BACKGROUND Sugarcane provides enormous secondary metabolites for the pharmacological and cosmetic industries. Secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and anthocyanins are studied, but few reports focus on the identification of alkaloids and non-alkaloids phytocompounds in sugarcane. RESULTS In this study, we identified 40 compounds in total (including 8 alkaloids, 24 non-alkaloids, and 8 others) by using LC-MS/MS approach, from the rind of cultivated sugarcane varieties. Among them, 31 compounds were novel and reported the first time in sugarcane. Some alkaloids such as 3-indoleacrylic acid, N,N-dimethyl-5-methoxytryptamine, tryptamine, 6-hydroxynicotinic acid, and 6-deoxyfagomine are identified the first time in sugarcane rind. Four alkaloids such as trigonelline, piperidine, 3-Indoleacrylic acid, and 6-deoxyfagomine are abundantly found in sugarcane rind and these compounds have promising pharmaceutical value. Some phytocompounds such as choline and acetylcholine (non-alkaloids compounds) were the highest in the rind of ROC22 and Yuetang93/159 (YT93/159), respectively. The hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis revealed that the ROC22, Taitang172 (F172), and Yuetang71/210 (YT71/210) varieties were quite similar in alkaloids composition as compared to other sugarcane varieties. Additionally, we have characterized the biosynthesis pathway of sugarcane alkaloids. The rind of F172, ROC22, and YT71/210 showed the highest total contents of alkaloids, whereas the rind of ROC16 revealed a minimum level. Interestingly, the rind extract from YT71/210 and F172 showed maximum antioxidant activity followed by ROC22. CONCLUSION Our results signified the diversity of alkaloid and non-alkaloid compounds in the rind of six cultivated sugarcane and highlighted the promising phytocompounds that can be extracted, isolated, and utilized by the pharmacological industry. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.