Survey and study on mungbean sprout industry

Survey and study on mungbean sprout industry was carried out in 14 provinces (5, 3 and 6 provinces in the Central, North and Northeast, respectively). Seventy mungbean sprout producers with 1-45 years experience were examined. An average of 40, 35 and 25 percent of the mungbean sprouts were produced from blackgram, mungbean and mixing between blackgram and mungbean, respectively. The percentage varied between blackgram and mungbean used for sprouting between the provinces. Up to 75 percent of the producers in the northern provinces used blackgram, whereas 86 percent of those in the central part used mungbean for sprouting. Sprouts in the northeast were mainy produced from mixing between blackgram and mungbean, up to 50 percent. For mungbean seeds used for sprouts, 55 percent of the producers preferred medium-sized seeds. For blackgram seeds, 41 and 35 percent of the producers preferred large and medium-sized seeds, respectively. Mungbean and blackgram seeds were mainly from Phetchabun and Sukhothai sources, respectively. For making bean sprout, 47 percent of the producers used only water spraying every 2-4 hours, whereas 33 and 20 percent used rice husk ash and sand as media and sprayed the bean with water 2-3 times a days, continuing until the bean sprouts reached the desired size (about 7-10 cm long). This period of time ranged from 4-6 days at low temperatures and 3-4 days at high temperatures. Many types of containers were used for sprouting, viz. krosene can, basket, plastic can, earthen jar, cement vat and metal vat. Eighty two percent of the producers soaked mungbean seeds in water for 5-9 hours or even overnight before placing them in a container. Mungbean and blackgram seeds used for sprouting each time were 8-123 kg making bean sprouts of 53-580 kg. The prices of mungbean and blackgram seeds for sprouts were 11-16 and 8-13 baht/kg, respectively, whereas the prices of sprouts were similar, varied from 4 to 7 baht/kg. Most of the sprouts were sold in local markets. The desired size of the sprouts were different. Forty seven percent of the producers preferred fat-short sprouts whereas 44 percent prefered fat-long sprouts.