Abstract
Current food systems, the collective processes involved in food production, distribution and consumption, create a dichotomous problem of nutritional excess and insufficiency and are not environmentally sustainable. One specific nutritional problem that needs attention is mineral (e.g., Fe, Zn) malnutrition, which impacts over two-thirds of the World’s people living in countries of every economic status. Microgreens, the edible cotelydons of many vegetables, flowers, and herbs, is a newly emerging crop that is potentially a dense source of minerals that can be sustainably produced in almost any locale. In this study, the nutrient contents of lettuce and cabbage microgreens grown hydroponically (HP) and on vermicompost (C) were assessed and compared to each other as well as to the nutrient contents of store-bought cabbage and lettuce (mature vegetables). Of the 10 nutrients examined (P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, Fe, Na), C cabbage microgreens had significantly larger quantities of all nutrients than HP cabbage microgreens (p-values <0.00321) with the exception of P; C lettuce microgreens had significantly larger quantities of all nutrients than HP lettuce microgreens (p-values <0.024) except for P, Mg and Cu. Compared to the mature vegetable, C or HP cabbage microgreens had significantly larger quantities of all nutrients examined (p-values <0.001) and C or HP lettuce microgreens had significantly larger quantities of all nutrients except for Ca and Na (p-values <0.0012). Results of this study indicate that microgreens grown on vermicompost have greater nutrient contents than those grown hydroponically. As microgreens can be grown easily in one’s home using the methods used in this study, they may provide a means for consumer access to larger quantities of nutrients per gram plant biomass relative to store-bought mature vegetables, which had lower nutrient contents than microgreens with respect to most nutrients examined.
Highlights
One-third of the World’s people, living in countries of every economic status, is overweight and/or undernourished [1,2,3]
High nutrient ratios were observed for Fe in cabbage microgreens with CC having 54.6 times the amount of Fe as the mature vegetable, while CHP had 5.4 times the amount of Fe as the mature vegetable
For Fe, lettuce microgreens still contained between 2 and 3 times the amount as the mature vegetable, but it is clear that cabbage microgreens are able to acquire far greater amounts of Fe when grown on the same substrates
Summary
One-third of the World’s people, living in countries of every economic status, is overweight and/or undernourished [1,2,3]. This dichotomous problem of nutritional excess and insufficiency is the product of processes associated with food production, distribution and consumption [1]. Fresh produce that does reach urban centers has usually lost substantial nutritional value during transport [5,6] This transport consumes 10% of the total energy budget in the United States [6] and contributes to food waste as it spoils or is contaminated enroute [1]. In addition to creating problems of nutritional excess and insufficiency, current food systems are detrimental to the very environment on which the production of nutritious food depends [1]
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