This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Microgreens are nutritional powerhouses. A team of plant scientists at Penn State conducting research on multiple aspects of microgreens recently published three studies reporting progress on multiple fronts, including iron enrichment, productive indoor growth and a faux lightning technique that could improve microgreens' growth, yield and nutritional quality.
First, the researchers found that in soilless growing systems, adding modified iron fertilizer can make radish and pea microgreens significantly richer in iron without substantially compromising their growth or nutritional quality. That's important, they said, because growing iron-enriched microgreens could be a practical way to improve dietary iron intake and help combat human iron deficiency. The researchers recently published their findings in Biological Trace Element Research.
In a second study, the team determined the effect of the red-to-blue LED light ratio on growth and quality of microgreens grown indoors under low-light conditions. By adjusting the ratio of red and blue light under energy-efficient light intensity levels, the researchers concluded that indoor growers may be able to produce microgreens with more desirable nutritional properties. They recently published their findings in Horticulturae.
Finally, in a third study, the team found that plasma-activated water—made by exposing water and the air directly above it to high-voltage electrical discharges, mimicking natural lightning to dissolve oxygen and nitrogen into the liquid—could improve the growth, yield and nutritional quality of pea microgreens. They recently reported their findings in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. "Each study is addressing a different issue; however, in all three we are using agronomic approaches—crop management practices—and technological solutions to enhance the quality and nutritional value of microgreens, while improving their resource-use efficiency," said team leader and senior author on all three studies, Francesco Di Gioia, associate professor of vegetable crop science in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
"The work is important because the microgreen industry is continuing to grow, and with nutrient-dense microgreens, we can address malnutrition issues and improve our diet." In this study, the researchers tested five iron fertilizers to determine which was most effective at increasing iron levels in radish and pea microgreens. The fertilizers were applied through irrigation at different concentrations. A fertilizer called Fe-EDTA was the most effective, the team found.
It increased iron content by three to five times in radish microgreens and two to three times in pea microgreens compared with plants that received no iron fertilizer. According to the researchers, Fe-EDTA fertilizer could be highly effective for iron biofortification in microgreens because it provides a stable, highly water-soluble and bioavailable form of iron under typical microgreens growing conditions. "Fertilizing microgreens with iron is tricky because its chemical form affects how easily plants can absorb it," said study first author Rishi Ravichandran, a doctoral candidate in the intercollege graduate degree program in plant biology.
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