Besides the variety of colours and flavours, microgreens show interesting nutritional properties, mainly regarding their contents of mineral nutrients and bioactive compounds. To date, the literature has prevalently focused on the individual nutritional features of microgreens usually belonging to Brassicaceae. The present study reports an articulated nutritional profile of six genotypes of microgreens, belonging to three species and two families: chicory (Cichorium intybus L., Puglia's local variety ‘Molfetta’, CM, and cultivar ‘Italico a costa rossa’, CR) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. Group crispa, cultivar ‘Bionda da taglio’, LB, and ‘Trocadero’, LT), from Asteraceae; and broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. Group italica Plenk, Puglia's local variety ‘Mugnuli’, BM, and cultivar ‘Natalino’, BN) from Brassicaceae. All the microgreens, except LB, can be considered good sources of Ca, whilst LT and CM also showed considerable amounts of K. As regards bioactive compounds, Brassica microgreens were the richest in phenolic antioxidants. The microgreens also presented higher amounts of α-tocopherol and carotenoids compared to mature vegetables. In particular, broccoli microgreens and LB showed the highest amounts of vitamin E, while Asteraceae microgreens presented the highest levels of carotenoids. Due to their delicate tissues, fresh cut microgreens showed a shelf life not exceeding ten days at 5 °C. The results obtained highlight the possibility to exploit genetic biodiversity in order to obtain tailored microgreens with the desired nutritional profiles, with particular regard to mineral nutrients and bioactive compounds. Appropriate pre- and post-harvest strategies should be developed, so as to allow microgreens to retain as long as possible their nutritional value.

中文翻译：

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包装果蔬的营养特性和保质期

除各种颜色和口味外，微绿还显示出有趣的营养特性，主要涉及其矿物质营养成分和生物活性化合物的含量。迄今为止，文献主要集中在通常属于十字花科的微型蔬菜的个体营养特征上。本研究报告了六个基因型的微型蔬菜的营养成分，分别属于三个物种和两个科：菊苣（菊苣（Cichorium intybus L.），普利亚大区的本地品种“ Molfetta”，CM和品种“ Italico a costa rossa”，CR）和莴苣（莴苣L.组皱，品种“Bionda哒塔格奥”，LB，和“特罗卡德罗”，LT），菊科从; 花椰菜（甘蓝L.集团谷子Plenk，普利亚的本地品种'Mugnuli'，BM，以及十字花科的品种'Natalino'，BN）。除LB外，所有其他绿色植物都可以被认为是钙的良好来源，而LT和CM也显示出大量的K。关于生物活性化合物，芸苔属微型蔬菜中酚类抗氧化剂含量最高。与成熟蔬菜相比，微型蔬菜还表现出更高的α-生育酚和类胡萝卜素含量。尤其是，西兰花微绿和LB显示出最高量的维生素E，而菊苣微绿则显示出最高水平的类胡萝卜素。由于其柔软的组织，鲜切的微型蔬菜在5°C下的保质期不超过10天。所获得的结果突显了利用遗传生物多样性以获得具有所需营养特征的量身定制的绿色蔬菜的可能性，特别是矿物质营养和生物活性化合物。应制定适当的收获前和收获后策略，以使微型果蔬尽可能长地保留其营养价值。