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International Journal of Scientific Reports | June 2021 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 302
International Journal of Scientific Reports
Patil M et al. Int J Sci Rep. 2021 Jun;7(6):302-305
http://www.sci-rep.com
pISSN 2454-2156 | eISSN 2454-2164
Original Research Article
Effect of onion and garlic biowaste on germination
and growth of microgreens
Madhuri Patil*, Pooja Jana, Chandrashekhar Murumkar
INTRODUCTION
Onion and garlic peels are good organic fertilizers rich in
calcium, iron magnesium and copper many of times not
properly utilized in bio-waste disposal. Onion (Allium
cepa) is mostly cultivated species all over the India.
Onion bulb is the plant portion mostly used for cooking
and aroma for varieties of dishes it gives flavor to most of
the dishes.1 Onion are important source of several
phytonutrients as flavonoids, fructooligosaccharides,
thiosulfates and other sulphur compounds.2,3 Onion it is
responsible for the odour and flavour because of sulphur
compounds and has active anti-microbial agents.4 Garlic
(Allium sativum) peel is good nutrient source for the plant
growth. They have good source of vitamin, antioxidants
and nutritional value like fiber, calcium, calories, iron,
potassium and magnesium.
Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graceium), garden cress
(Lepidium sativum), falooda (Ocimum basilicum) and
black mustard (Brassica nigra) were used for test
utilization. Those seeds are known for the medical uses
and spices in ancient medicine. Fenugreek seed used as a
spices and medicinal treatment such as hypocholes,
terolemic, lactation aid, antibacterial, gastric stimulant,
for anorexia, antidiabetic agent galactogogue,
hepatoprotective effect and anticancer.5 Falooda seed
promotes health, blood sugar, seeds of basil have been
used as traditional medicine treatment of dyspsia, ulcer,
diarrhea, and other illness.6 Mustard seeds are used for
treatment of inflammatory condition, cancer and
cardiovascular disease. Whereas garden cress seeds used
in food, cooking remedy to treat health problems used in
healing fracture, accidental injuries. Mineral profile of
garden cress seed shows high content of potassium and
ABSTRACT
Background: Biowaste of onion and garlic peel is remaining unexploited for their sustainable use having potential as
source of organic fertilizer. The present work was intended to investigate biowaste of onion and garlic peel water
extract on germination and growth of fenugreek, mustard, falooda and garden cress seeds which could resource as
microgreens
Methods: Germination studies in selected seeds are carried out by water extracts of onion and garlic peel.
Results: As far as growth is concerned variation is observed in all seeds. Significant escalated results were observed
in garlic peel extract on fenugreek seeds as compared to other seeds. However, after treatment of onion extract
moderate enhancement in growth observed in falooda and garden cress seeds. It is observed that there is no significant
influence of treatment on germination of all seeds.
Conclusions: Onion and garlic peels biowaste can be used as a natural growth enhancer in a sustainable way for
growing microgreens of fenugreek and falooda seeds whereas onion and garlic peel extracts could inhibit the growth
of Mustard and garden cress seeds.
Keywords: Biowaste, Microgreens, Peel, Nutrient, Garden cress
Department of Botany, Tuljaram Chaturchand College, Baramati, Maharashtra, India
Received: 19 March 2021
Accepted: 10 May 2021
*Correspondence:
Dr. Madhuri Patil,
E-mail: patilmadhuri352@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-2156.IntJSciRep20211951
Patil M et al. Int J Sci Rep. 2021 Jun;7(6):302-305
International Journal of Scientific Reports | June 2021 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 303
low content sodium in all fraction which make beneficial
for the patient of high blood pressure and also can be
recommended to athelete.7
Now a day, people grow small sprout like plant at home
or in kitchen garden they are known as microgreens.
They are basically small healthy nutritional herbs grown
out from the edible seeds that can easily grow through
organic way at home with low-cost equipment and in few
days (7-21) at home. Microgreen’s stem and leaf are
considered as edible and used in food for nutritional diet
and excellent towards health.
Microgreens of mustard seeds are good for health have
several vitamin, dense calcium, protein, iron, fibre and
stronger immune system and healthy hair growth. A
fenugreek seeds microgreen is use in spices to give
texture to food rich in vitamin use in salads, as dip and
helps to weight loss. Garden cress and falooda seeds
microgreens are fast growing herb it is healthy for the
human diet so now a days mostly people prefer
microgreens for their health to get better nutrition.
In present work efforts have been made to use biowaste
water extracts of dried onion and garlic peels as natural
growth promoter to grow microgreens of fenugreek,
black mustard, falooda and garden cress seeds in cost
effective way for environment friendly biowaste disposal.
METHODS
The kitchen waste obtained from onion and garlic peels.
About 10-gram dried peel of both materials were soaked
overnight in 100 ml water. This filtered extract was
preserved at 40C and used as prospective medium for
seed germination studies. The soils were collected from
the garden and brought to laboratory. It is sieved in 3mm
sieve to remove the rock, unnecessary particles, and
pebbles from the soil. Further soil was distributed in the
bowl of diameter 8.5 cm each containing 0.136 gm soil.
The whole experiment was set up into culture room with
optimum conditions of temp 25±20C and good light
intensity along with 12 h photoperiod and 80 % relative
humidity. All the healthy taste seeds of fenugreek,
mustard, falooda and garden cress were washed
thoroughly with distilled water and in each bowl 10 seeds
were sown and treated with 1% onion and
garlic peel extract at subsequent time intervals. The
assessment including germination percentage and
appearance of root and shoot length was carried out after
14 days. Control bowl was prepared without extract. The
data are presented in the form of mean with standard
deviation of 10 observations.
RESULTS
Treatment of fenugreek, falooda, mustard and garden
cress seeds with 1% onion and garlic peel extract resulted
in slight stimulation of germination (Figure 1). When
compared control Fenugreek seeds showed 30%
germination in onion extract whereas garlic extract does
not affect on germination of Fenugreek seeds.
Interestingly falooda seeds showed enhanced germination
with garlic extract and negative impact by onion peel
extract. A mustard and garden cress seed doesn’t showed
inhibition of seed germination by test extracts. Mustard
seeds showed 10% and garden cress seeds 5% inhibition
of germination when compared of control.
Table 1 and Figure 2 and 3 depicts growth pattern in test
seeds using biowaste extracts of onion and garlic peel.
One percent onion peel extracts showed significant
stimulation in root and shoot length of falooda and
garden cress seeds whereas slight increase in shoot length
of garden cress seeds from 6.33 to 6.54 cm is observed.
Fenugreek seeds remain unaltered by extract to onion
whereas mustard seedling growth is interestingly
inhibited by onion peel extract.
The maximum stimulative effect of 1% garlic peel extract
is observed in both fenugreek root and shoots length.
Root length is increased by 16% while shoot length
increased in fenugreek seeds by 9% respectively
remaining all the three seeds root and shoot length
inhibited by garlic peel extract but significant inhibition
was observed in shoot length of garden cress seeds up to
50%.
Onion peel extract found to be effective for germination
of Fenugreek seeds while 1% garlic peel extract showed
slight increase in falooda seeds from 50 to 55%.
However, variation in growth pattern was observed in
fenugreek seeds by garlic peel extract and basil seeds in
onion extract. Mustard and garden cress seedlings are not
altered by both the extract treatment.
Table 1: Effect of 1% onion and garlic peel extract on root and shoot length of fenugreek, mustard, falooda and
garden cress seeds.
Parameter
Fenugreek
Mustard
Falooda
Garden cress
Control (cm)
Root length
0.20±0.00
2.96±2.63
8.02±1.06
6.04±0.83
Shoot length
0.60±0.71
3.08±2.47
8.24±1.57
6.33±0.72
1% Onion peel extract (cm)
Root length
0.02±0.71
3.17±2.57
6.81±0.95
6.32±1.23
Shoot length
0.05±0.71
3.08±2.50
7.02±1.64
6.54±1.29
1% Garlic peel extract (cm)
Root length
5.2±0.14
2.45±2.49
7.32±1.67
6.00±0.81
Shoot length
5.4±0.07
2.33±2.69
7.53±1.83
3.22±0.74
All the observations are mean of 10 replications ± indicates standard deviation.
Patil M et al. Int J Sci Rep. 2021 Jun;7(6):302-305
International Journal of Scientific Reports | June 2021 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 304
Figure 1: Effect of 1% onion and garlic peel extract
on germination percentage of fenugreek, mustard,
falooda and garden cress seeds.
Figure 2: Effect of 1% onion and garlic peel extract
on root length of fenugreek, mustard, falooda and
garden cress seeds.
Figure 3: Effect of 1% onion and garlic peel extract
on shoot length of fenugreek, mustard, falooda and
garden cress seeds.
DISCUSSION
In the present work study, it was attempted to
experimentally separate the effect of extract of onion and
garlic peel on germination and seedling growth of
Fenugreek, falooda, mustard and Garden cress seeds. Peel
of onion showed significant enhanced growth in
Fenugreek seeds. This could be as a result of they are rich
in calcium, iron, magnesium and copper, potassium.
Garlic is rich in complex organic sulphides and Onion is
rich in carbohydrate flavonoid and phenol.8 The powder
of fruit peel extracts in Fenugreek seeds as natural growth
enhancer.9 Household waste discarded daily has a
potential source of carbon, nitrogen, vitamins and amino
acid which generally induce plant growth.10 The use of
organic fertilizer is one of the common practice that can
be alternative in agricultural system.11
Both onion and garlic peel extracts showed inhibited rate
of germination in mustard and garden cress which is
further reflected in length of shoot and root. Combination
of allelochemicals interfere with various physiological
processes in the receiving plant shows typically inhibition
effects.12 Inhibition of germination is may be due to an
allelopathic effect some flavonoids as they are capable of
increasing the levels of reactive oxygen causing and also
presence of different bioactive compounds like phenolics,
flavonoids.13,14
CONCLUSION
Results of present study suggest that seed germination of
fenugreek and falooda is increased by onion and garlic
peels respectively whereas mustard and garden cress
seeds germination and growth is inhibited. It can be
concluded that onion and garlic peel can be used to grow
microgreens and also in field as intercrop for better
growth of fenugreek and falooda. Bio waste of onion and
garlic peel can be used in sustainable way for growing
microgreens at home which are with aromatic flavor and
concentrated nutrient content. In order to facilitate
effectiveness of bio- fertilizer for growing microgreens
further evaluation of nutritional analysis of microgreens
is necessary as now a day chemical free organic
supplements are of immense importance for health
benefits.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Author would like to thanks to Principle, Tuljaram
Chaturchand college, Baramati for continuous support
during the work. Also grateful to head, department of
botany, Tuljaram Chaturchand college, Baramati for
providing laboratory facility.
Funding: No funding sources
Conflict of interest: None declared
Ethical approval: The study was approved by the
institutional ethics committee
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3 4
Control
1%Onion peel
extract
1% Garlic peel
extract
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Fenugreek Mustard Basil Garden
cress
Control
1% Onion
peel extract
1% Garlic
peel extract
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Fenugreek Mustard Basil Garden
cress
Control
1% Onion
peel extract
Fenugreek Mustard Falooda Garden Cress
Shoot Length (cm)
Patil M et al. Int J Sci Rep. 2021 Jun;7(6):302-305
International Journal of Scientific Reports | June 2021 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 305
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Cite this article as: Patil M, Jana P, Murumkar C.
Effect of onion and garlic biowaste on germination
and growth of microgreens. Int J Sci Rep
2021;7(6):302-5.