Effects of sodium metavanadate and germination on the sprouting of chickpeas and its content of vanadium, formononetin and biochanin A in the sprouts.

Chickpea sprouts (CS) may become one of the natural products of high demand due to their nutritional values. The aim of this work was to study the enrichment of vanadium (V) during the germination of chickpea seeds in order to combine the high nutritive value of sprouts with a readily bioavailable source of essential trace element-V. Chickpea seeds were germinated in sodium metavanadate solutions (NaVO(3)) with different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1,000, 1,200, 1,400, and 1,600 mg/L as NaVO(3)) for 6 days at 28 °C. It was found that the addition of sodium metavanadate produced slight stress effect, and the growth of CS was inhibited. The addition of sodium metavanadate significantly increased V content in CS in a dose-dependent manner. The highest V content (1.52 mg/g) in CS was observed when germination was carried out in the NaVO(3) solution with 1,200 mg/L NaVO(3) concentration. Chickpea seeds germinated in 50 ∼200 mg/L NaVO(3) solutions for 6 days at 28 °C showed a higher germination rate (>99%%) and a higher content of isoflavones including formononetin and biochanin A than those obtained in NaVO(3) solutions with other concentration in the same germination conditions. Therefore, a concentration of 50∼200 mg/L sodium metavanadate solutions should be used for the production of V-enriched chickpea sprouts (VCS).