Effect of Soaking of Seeds in Water and Storage Period in a Regular Refrigerator to Produce Sprouts of some Vegetables for Marketing Purposes

The study was conducted under the condition of the laboratory affiliated with the Department of Horticulture/College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences/University of Baghdad, aiming to investigate the effect of soaking seeds in water and the storage period (0, 3, and 7 days) on some traits of sprouts produced from three types of plants (brown mustard, red radish, and purslane). The completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this experiment involving three factors with three replicates. Results demonstrated that the red radish sprouts were significantly superior in the contents of carbohydrates, chlorophyll, fibers, phosphorous, and protein; purslane sprouts were superior in the contents of calcium, potassium, and vitamin C; mustard sprouts were superior in the contents of calcium, chlorophyll, and potassium. Soaking seeds gave results significantly superior to non-soaking seeds in each carbohydrate, fiber, phosphorous, protein, and vitamin C content. The sprout storage period also significantly affected the trait that the second and third periods were superior to the first period in the most studied traits. Concerning the binary introduction, the non-soaked seeds affected the most traits in the interactions A x B and B x C. In the interaction A x C (plant type with the storage period), most results refer to the significant superiority of the red radish sprouts stored for a further time. Regarding the triple interactions, non-soaked seeds and long storage periods of the red radish sprouts were significantly superior in most interaction treatments.