Iron Fortified Hydroponically-Grown Barley-Sprout Flour

Abstract

In an attempt to increase the iron content of barley flour, seeds were soaked in distilled water for 6h, and grown hydroponically under controlled conditions in the dark for 132h. They were sprayed automatically every 4h for 15min with either distilled water or distilled water to which iron as ferrous sulfate had been added at 5, 7 and 10 ppm iron concentrations. The sprouts were frozen, freeze-dried, ground into flour and analyzed for iron.Iron bioavailability from the barley seed flour, sprouted barley flour (grown in 5 ppm iron solution) and ferrous sulfate was evaluated by the efficiency of converting dietary iron to hemoglobin. Rats made anemic by an iron-deficient diet for 4 weeks were switched to one of three repletion diets containing 21mg of iron per kg diet for two weeks.Increasing the concentration of iron in the spray water resulted in marked increases in the sprout iron levels, but solutions of 7 ppm and above inhibited seed germination. The values for efficiency of iron utilization from ferrous sulfate, barley seed and the germinated barley diets were 64, 41 and 51 percent, respectively. Iron from the sprouted barley flour diet therefore, was significantly more available than that from the diet containing ungerminated barley seed flour.