Quality Analysis and Comprehensive Evaluation of Sprouting Vegetables

The quality indexes of 18 kinds of sprouting vegetables were measured and analyzed, Then, their nutritional quality was evaluated comprehensively by using the membership function, and classified by means of the cluster analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in various quality indicators among the 18 kinds of sprouting vegetables (P<0.05). The order of nutritional quality obtained by the membership function method was as follows:toonna sinensis>colored pea>black soybean>chinese cabbage>Acacia bean>sweet buckwheat>wheat>spotted colored pea>wild soybean>broccoli>soybean>pine willow>vanilla herb>barley>red radish>white radish>water spinach>Abelmoschus esculentus. The cluster analysis divided the 18 kinds of sprouting vegetables into four categories:the first group included six kinds of bean sprouts, pine willow, water spinach, Abelmoschus esculentus and toonna sinensis, and the obvious characteristic of this group was the high content of crude protein. The second group included barley and wheat, which was characterized by the high content of cellulose. The third group included red radish, white radish, broccoli, vanilla herb and chinese cabbage, which was characterized by the high content of total flavonoids and the high content of mineral elements Ca and Fe. The fourth group included sweet buckwheat, which was characterized by the high contents of soluble sugar, Vc, nitrate, total flavonoids and total phenols, but the low content of crude protein.