Nutritional and energetic value of vegetables sold in supermarkets

The tasks of the experiment: 1. to buy several sorts of vegetables from Kaunas supermarkets; 2. to compare the nutrient and energetical value of domestic and imported vegetables; 3. to evaluate the amounts of consumption of different vegetables. Research work was performed in Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, Department of Animal Nutrition, and also in Kaunas supermarkets: „Iki“, „Maxima“, „Rimi“ and „Norfa“. It has been tested 50 different vegetables and 9 organic vegetable species. The analysis of chemical composition for each sample was performed, and according to the calorific value of nutrients, metabolic energy content was calculated for each vegetable sample. Nutrients in vegetables significantly improve the value of our ration, also, taste features. Having analyzed the nutritional value of vegetables marketed in major supermarkets, we can say that the vegetables grown in our country do not yield to the nutritional value of imported ones. As we know that vegetables are healthy, we can conclude that: • the greatest coefficient of edible part have tomatoes, green onions; a smaller one have zucchini, cucumbers, aubergines and peppers – from 0,88 to 0,80; and the smallest one is of the celery – 0,68; • the most aqueous vegetable from the group of collard greens and verdure was lettuce (country of origin – Lithuania) 95,72 % (p<0,001), the greatest amount of minerals was found in red cabbages (country of origin – Holland) – 8,50 g/100g (p<0,001); the greatest amounts of raw proteins were found in broccoli 3,11 % (country of origin - Italy) (p<0,001), broccoli 3,05 % (country of origin - Spain) (p<0,001) and in Brussels sprout 4,40 % (country of origin – Holland) (p<0,001); • in the group of root vegetables the least amount of humidity had garlic (country of origin – Holland) 66,15 – 66,10 % (p<0,001); they were richer in minerals – 12,83 – 13,22 % (p<0,001), in protein 7,41 – 6,22 % (p<0,001), in extractive non-nitrogenous materials – 11,88 – 13,87 % (p