Effect of Different Concentrations of Seaweed Extract, Hydrogen Peroxide and LED Light Factor on the Growth, Total Phytochemical and Ascorbic Acid Content of Microgreens

Chong, Kah Shin (2023) Effect of Different Concentrations of Seaweed Extract, Hydrogen Peroxide and LED Light Factor on the Growth, Total Phytochemical and Ascorbic Acid Content of Microgreens. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

Organic microgreens refer to a specific type of microgreen grown to ensure that the product is free of any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Brassica oleracea, broccoli and red amaranth has been known as a high-nutritional value vegetables due to their high concentration of health-promoting phytochemicals. Ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin that acts as a powerful antioxidant which will neutralize free radicals and toxins. Polyphenols are plant secondary metabolites that typically involved in defense against ultraviolet radiation or pathogen aggression. Seaweed is a low-cost biostimulant coastal agricultural areas which able to increased overall plant growth. LED light have been used to optimize crop production and quality in controlled environments, and they have several advantages over traditional lighting. The usage of hydrogen peroxide is popular in microgreen cultivation as it combats root diseases as well as pests that attack the foliage. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of different concentrations of seaweed extract, presence of food grade hydrogen peroxide and LED light on the growth of broccoli and red amaranth microgreens by comparing their growth parameters as well as their total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid content. In this study, broccoli and red amaranth microgreens were planted indoors and different treatments were applied. The average protein content in seaweed extract was 4.75 ± 0.18% as per dermined using Kjeldahl method. For broccoli microgreens, seaweed extract treatment as biostimulants have significant effect by increasing their total phenolic content, but did not affect total flavonoid content (p<0.05). For the red amaranth microgreens, seaweed extract treatment did not have significant effect to them in both total phenolic and flavonoid content (p>0.05), but concentration of 5.0g/L is too concentrated for their growth. Food grade hydrogen peroxide & LED light provide significant improvement on the overall growth of microgreens in increasing average fresh yield, TPC & TFC. There was no ascorbic acid detected in the microgreen extracts. Both broccoli and red amaranth microgreens have been proved to contain both flavonoid and phenolic contents due to presence of absorption peaks at frequency range of 1680-1600 cm-1 and 3550-3200 cm-1, which indicated the presence of hydroxyl group (OH) and carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) functional groups through FTIR analysis. Keywords: Broccoli microgreen, red amaranth microgreen, seaweed extract, food grade hydrogen peroxide, LED light, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total ascorbic acid (TAA)