Determinação de macronutrientes e micronutrientes na beterraba vermelha (Beta Vulgaris L.) orgânica

Abstract

Food waste in Brazil is a factor that has been generating great discussions on the part of the academic community, with the incentive to reuse all parts of plants being increasingly frequent. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the macronutrients and micronutrients in the different parts (root, stalk and leaf) of organically grown red beet (Beta Vulgaris L.), obtained from the vegetable garden of the Faculdade Intercultural Indígena (FAIND), located in campus of the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD) for the development of a beetroot, stalk and leaf flour, parts of this vegetable that are generally discarded by the population. After obtaining the beets, they were transported to the laboratories of the Food Engineering Course at UFGD, then they were selected, washed and sanitized with chlorinated water, sodium hypochlorite, at 2% for 15 minutes, then rinsed with running water. The vegetables were divided and separated into three parts: root, stalk and leaf. Drying was performed separately in an oven at 30ºC for 14 hours, after which they were cooled to room temperature, ground and stored in plastic bags. Then, the analysis of macronutrients and micronutrients were performed using the flame atomic absorption methodology. The results showed that the beetroot, leaf and stalk flour grown organically has a large amount of nutrients and minerals in its composition, values that exceed the beetroot tuber flour, in terms of minerals such as calcium (Ca), which in beet tuber flour presented amounts of 1.09 g/Kg, in leaf, stalk and root flour the value was six times higher, 6.0 g/Kg. Phosphorus (P) concentration in leaf, stem and root flour showed 9.2 g/Kg. Magnesium in leaf, stalk and root flour was four times higher, reaching 9.6 g/Kg, potassium was the component that obtained the smallest difference between the analyzed parts in leaf, stalk and root flour was 39.0 g/kg. The flour obtained from the leaf, stalk and root of beet has a high nutritional value and can be used for the manufacture of food products and human food supplementation.