Sprouts can be considered as one of the most nutritious and cheap nutritional sources. Due to these advantages, sprouts consumption has... Show moreSprouts can be considered as one of the most nutritious and cheap nutritional sources. Due to these advantages, sprouts consumption has increased significantly in recent decades. However, because of their susceptible nature to microbial growth, numerous outbreaks associated with this fresh produce have occurred and thus the safety of the sprout is of major concern. A novel kinetic hydroponics system (KHS) was developed to optimize an improve safe sprout production. In KHS, sprouting seeds are able to grow under water while air is continuously introduced. In this study, effect of various airflow rates and light on yield, germination percentage, and physical properties of sprout were examined. In addition, microbial growth during the shelf life of sprout grown, using conventional and KHS methods were monitored. Moreover, the efficacy of chlorine-based sanitizers for reducing microbial loads during KHS sprout production was tested. Results showed that air flow rate had a positive impact on yield. However, higher airflow (8 and 10 feet3/minute) significantly lowered yield. Also, KHS has a significant higher yield compare with conventional method (110.30±4.88 versus 66.19±2.66 g). KHS did not have positive impact on germination percentage. Germination percentage was almost the same in KHS and conventional method (80.67±1.15% versus 81.33±1.53%). Moreover, when various light wavelengths were used, germination percentage increased significantly in KHS (from 91±2.65 to 96±1% in various wavelengths). In terms of color, there were no significant differences in color of sprouts in both systems. In KHS, when dark conditions applied, stem length was significantly higher (31.32±3.55 mm) than those sprouts treated with light. For example, stem length in white light was 8.54±1.32 mm. In contrast, leaves length was significantly higher when light used (highest was 6.67±0.49 mm for combination of blue and red lights compare to 3.19±0.22 mm for dark KHS). Analyzing microbial background showed that sprouts produced in KHS had lower total aerobic counts compared with conventional system (7.24±0.49 versus 8.22±0.18 log CFU/g respectively). However, after 21 days of shelf study at 4°C sprouts in both systems almost had the same counts (10.02±0.70 versus 9.55±0.49 log CFU/g in KHS and conventional systems respectively). Show less
