Effect of Number of Washes on Microbial Population of Homemade Horse Gram Sprouts

Abstract

Sprouts provide a good supply of vitamins viz., A, E, C and B complex vitamins (Shipard, 2005). The vitamin content of some seeds can increase by 20 times their original value within several days of sprouting. Mung Bean sprouts have increased B vitamin compared to the dry seeds, of - B1 up by 285 per cent B2 up by 515 per cent B3 up by 256 per cent. Even, soaking seeds overnight in water yields greatly increased amounts of B and C. Sprouts contain 30 times more vitamin compared to matured plants. An experiment was conducted to see the microbial population of home made horse gram sprouts as influenced by varying number of washes at Department of Agricultural Microbiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, G. K. V. K., Bengaluru during the year 2009-2011. The results of the experiments showed that microbial population of bacteria and fungi decreases as the number of washes increases, and comparatively bacteria shows highest population.