Metabolite profile of African horned cucumber (Cucumis metuliferus E. May. Ex Naudin) fruit grown under differing environmental conditions.

Plant metabolites are known as biological compounds that are essential to the growth and development of a plant and have a direct impact on yield and biochemical constituents of plants. For this study, the objective was to conduct primary metabolomics analysis using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. African horned cucumber fruits were harvested from plants grown under pots experiment (greenhouse, shade net and open field), soil types (loamy soil and sandy loam) and three water stress levels (no water stress-100%-3L, moderate water stress-75%-2L, and severe water stress-35%-1L) during 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. Results showed that the treatment of no water stress combined with sandy loam under shade net environment, significantly increased asparagine content from 10 × 10 to 80 × 10 peak intensity. The treatment of no water stress, in combination with sandy loam soil under open field environment increased 4-hydroxyproline from 10 × 10 to 90 × 10 peak intensity compared to other treatments. It can be deduced that the treatment combination of (no water stress and moderate water stress) and all soil types, under greenhouse environment increased most metabolites content of the fruit when compared to other treatments. Therefore, it subsequently has potential to affect fruit quality such as taste and other biochemical constituents.