Biological value of broccoli protein

Abstract

Background. The biological value of vegetable protein is lower compared to animal one. Among vegetable crops only the proteins of potatoes and cabbage on the content of essential amino acids are close to the animal proteins.
It is known that vegetable proteins do not play a decisive role to meet the needs of the body due to their low content in the plant material and low consumption. As plant protein is in the dense cell membranes and is difficult to be digested by enzymes, it reduces their absorption, which depending on the kind of vegetables is in the range of 70–80 %. The studies of the amino acid content and biological value of protein of broccoli cultivated in Ukraine had not been conducted yet.
The aim of this study is identification the amino acid composition and biological value of the protein of cabbage broccoli zoned in Ukraine.
Material and methods. The object of the study is protein of broccoli cabbage variety Partenon, Monaco F1, Belstar F1, Quinta F1. Studies were conducted on the following parameters: the content of amino acids and biological value of protein.
Results. When determining amino acid composition of protein of broccoli cabbage of different varieties it was found that the Partenon variety (41.95 and 57.13 mg/100 mg protein) and Belstar F1 (42.26 and 57.91 mg/100 mg protein) contain the greatest amounts of amino acids. However, it should be noted that the investigated varieties of broccoli had no significant differences on this indicator. The conducted studies established that protein of broccoli variety Quinta F1 has the highest biological value (64.2).
Conclusion. It has been established that all the studied varieties of broccoli have comparatively high biological value that is within 60.5–64.4. Thus it’s possible to claim that broccoli is a source of predominantly full vegetable proteins, but their amino acid composition is not balanced, which reduces their biological value compared to animal proteins. But at the same time it is known that vegetable proteins have a number of advantages over animals proteins, and therefore are being applied in the food industry more and more.