Production, Nutrition and Safety of Young Shoots of Vegetable Milk Vetch

Field experiments and tests were carried out to evaluate the potential of growing Milk Vetch for food.The results showed that (a) the young shoot's yield decreased with plant types in the order of: medium flowering type＞early flowering type>earlier flowing type; and (b) there were significant correlations between the shoot yield and plant growth stages or characteristics i.e., it descends as follow:freshyield>early flowering stage>plant height >stem diameter >budding stage).The young shoots contained more vitamin C, Cu, Mn and carbohydrate than pea sprouts, mung beans or water spinach.In particular, it had a high vitamin C content of up to 61.7 mg·hg-1.The contents of toxic and hazardous substances in the shoots were below the national non-public hazard vegetable safety standards.Thus, it appeared that the young shoots of Milk Vetch could be developed as an exotic edible vegetable.