EFFECT OF SPROUTING USING SALINE WATER ON CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PROTEIN QUALITY AND FRACTIONATIONS OF EGYPTIAN CLOVER SPROUTS

The effect of salt stress on growth proximate analysis, amino acid profile, protein quality and fractionations in 3 days etiolated clover sprout samples was investigated. Sterilized and non-sterilized clover seeds were sprouting using tap water 1000 ppm and 2000 ppm NaCl solution. The results showed reduction effect of clover sprout characters with higher NaCl concentration. Clover seed sprouting increased the crude protein content using tap water or saline water for sprouting as compared with dry seeds. However using non-sterilized clover seeds for sprouting recorded the higher values of protein (44.73%), lipids (6.21%) and energy (318.51 kcal/g) in etiolated sprouts, while using sterilized seeds recorded higher carbohydrate (21.28%), fiber (14.57%) and  ash (4.46%). For amino acids, aspartic acid followed by glutamic acid were the most abundant, while Cysteine and methionine were the least in clover etiolated sprouts. Using saline water for clover seed sprouting caused increases in all amino acid compared with tap water except Methionine, aspartic acid and cysteine. For protein efficiency ratio (PER), essential amino acid index (EAAI%) and biological value (BV), from using saline water for sprouting had the higher values than sprouts from using tap water, but the values are less than dry seeds. On the other hand nutritional index (NI) recorded the higher values in salt stress compared with both using tap water and dry clover seeds. For protein fraction in etiolated clover sprouts albumin was the major protein fraction extracted from NaCl 2000ppm sprout fallowed by prolamin from tap water sprouts, glutelin from NaCl 1000 ppm sprout and globulin from tap water sprout. The clover sprout protein isolated and its fractions could have excellent applications for future product development by virtue of their nutritional and functional properties.