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Microgreens are new class of vegetables that are gaining popularity
in the recent years due to their attractive appearance coupled with vivid flavors. They
are young immature greens produced from seeds of vegetables or herbs which are
harvested at its true leaf stage. Most of the research works in this area are carried out
with temperate species of crops whose seeds are very expensive. Hence there is a need
to popularize the microgreens of tropical species at an affordable price with minimum
inputs, so that it is easily accessible to common people. The study entitled
“Standardization of technology for microgreen production” was conducted at the
Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara during
January to October 2021.
The study was experimented with wheat, ragi, green gram, horse
gram, amaranthus and mustard whose seeds were collected from the local market. It
was conducted as four experiments (standardization of seed treatment, standardization
of media, standardization of seed density and to assess the nutritional value and yield
under different growing conditions). The first experiment was to standardize seed
treatment done using two chemicals hydrogen peroxide and vinegar treated at
different concentrations. The observations on germination percentage, seedling vigour
and yield were recorded. The seed treatment did not show any effect on growth of
microgreens when compared to the control on the parameters recorded. The
microscopic observation of freshly harvested microgreens for fungal contamination
indicated absence of any contamination in the fresh microgreens.
The experiment on standardizing growing media was carried out
using five media viz, sterile sand, cocopeat, coir mat, tissue paper and newspaper. The
observation on yield, seedling height, nutritional value of microgreens and
microscopic observation on fungal growth were recorded. Yield was observed to be
highest in microgreens grown on cocopeat media and lowest was recorded in
microgreen grown on newspaper media and among the crops it was highest for green
gram microgreens (1.03 to 1.49 kg/m2). The seedling height showed a slight decrease
in ragi and mustard microgreens grown on newspaper and comparing the crops, it was
observed to be maximum in green gram microgreens (10.23- 10.54 cm). The
nutritional parameters recorded were not showing any difference when sown in
different media. The wheat microgreens were observed to rich source of vitamin C,
beta carotene and protein, ragi microgreens were showing more calcium and vitamin C
and beta carotene content, green gram microgreen were rich in protein, vitamin C and
calcium, horse gram microgreens were rich in vitamin C, chlorophyll, beta carotene
and crude protein, amaranthus microgreens possess high iron, calcium, beta carotene and
vitamin C content and mustard microgreens were rich in protein and beta carotene, iron
and vitamin C. Microscopic observation on freshly harvested produce revealed that
there is absence of fungal contamination in microgreens.
The seed density for microgreen production was standardized in the
third experiment. The seeds were sown at three densities viz, low, medium and high
density for each crop. The observations recorded included yield, seedling height and
microscopic observation on fungal growth. The yield was recorded to be highest when
sown at high density for wheat (705 g seeds/m2), ragi (520g seeds/m2) and
amaranthus(120g seeds/m2) microgreens and medium density planting yielded highest
for green gram (850g seeds/m2), horse gram (617 g seeds/m2) and mustard (440 g
seeds/m2) microgreens. The seedling height recorded was observed to be on par
except for green gram and horse gram microgreens, where highest seedling height was
found in medium density planting. No fungal contamination was observed in
microscopic observation of fresh produce.
Nutritional value and yield of microgreens grown under two
conditions (room condition and rain shelter) were studied in fourth experiment. The
parameters recorded were yield, seedling height, nutrient content under two
conditions, organoleptic evaluation and shelf life of microgreens. The yield was
observed to be significantly high when raised under rain shelter condition than room
condition. Among the crops it was highest for green gram microgreens (2.261 kg/m2).
The seedling height was observed to reduce under rain shelter condition. Nutritional
content was also observed to be high when planted under rain shelter for all
parameters viz, iron, calcium, beta carotene, vitamin C, crude protein, crude fibre,
chlorophyll, oxalates and nitrates. Organoleptic evaluation revealed highest total mean
rank for mustard microgreens (54.56) raised under room condition. The shelf life study revealed that the storage period of microgreens can be extended when it is stored in ziplock PPE bag under low temperature condition. In this study, several aspects of microgreens production viz, seed treatment, growing media, seed density, growth conditions and shelf life were standardized. The results indicate that microgreen cultivation can be recommended both as a commercial and household venture.

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