Sprout Production

Legume seeds have made a significant contribution to the human diet since ancient times. They are a good and inexpensive source of dietary proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Sprouts are one of the most complete and nutritional of all foods tested. Sprouts are real 'Life vitamins, minerals, proteins, and enzymes. Their nutritional value was discovered by the ancient Egyptians and Chinese thousands of years ago. The effect of sprouting media, seedling density and growth duration on character and yield of faba bean, pea and cowpea as well as storage and microbial load of faba bean and pea sprouts were studied. In faba bean sprout production, using rice straw, 50 % seeding density and 7 days duration were ideal for production. In pea sprout production, using kitchen paper, 75 % seeding density and 9 days duration were ideal for production. The interaction among package type, storage and shelf life period on off flavor of pea sprouts showed that the most suitable conditions for lowest sprout off flavor was storing pea sprout at 0 O C for 4 days in black punnets covered with stretch or at 0 O C for 2 days plus 2 days at 10 O C in strawberry.