Nutritional quality of canola seed sprouts and green foliage
H.L. Bhardwaj and A.A. Hamama
Proceedings of 26th International Horticultural Congress. Volume of Abstract . Toronto, Canada, 11-17 August, 2002.
2002
บทคัดย่อ
Our objectives were to study the nutritional quality of seed sprouts and green foliage of canola (Brassica napus L.) to determine the potential of developing alternate uses for this crop. In the first experiment in which seeds were placed on filter paper kept continuously moist. In the first experiment, canola sprouts were harvested 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 days after initiation of the experiment in which seeds were placed on filter paper kept continuously moist. In the second experiment, nutritional quality of pre-flowering foliage (canola greens) was compared to that of mustard and turnip greens. The oil contents of sprouts decreased with age from 40 (2 days) to 5 (7 days) percent. The relative content of saturated fatty acids in the oil in sprouts decreased with age from 5.1 (2 days) to 4.5 (7 days) percent. The relative content of 18:3 fatty acid increased with age from 6.8 (2 days) to 8.5 (7days) percent. The canola oil is considered healthy for human consumption because of its low content of saturated fatty acids (about 6%) as compared to 9% in safflower oil, 13% in olive and corn oil, and 14% in sesame oil. The saturated fatty acids in canola sprouts were even lower than those in the seed (5.1 to 4.5%), indicaing that canola sprouts may be even more desirable as human food as compared to oil. The oil content of canola greens was 3.4% as compared to 2.2% in mustard and 3.4% in turnipn greens. The mean total saturated fatty acid content of canola of canola greens was 18.8% which was intermediate between mustard (5.0%) and turnip (23.3%). Canola greens had considerably higher content (43.8%) of omega-3-fatty acid (18:3) as compared to mustard (9.0%) or turnip greens (28.00%). The canola greens had higher protein content than mustage and turnip greens (30.6. 29.3, and 16.8 percent, respectively) whereas all three types of greens were similar in K, Mg, P, and Zn contents. These results indicated that alternated uses for canola seeds and foliage canbe developed.