Germination of the seeds was carried out at room temperature in the range of 22 ± 1 C (12/12 h day/night). Sprouted seeds were harvested after 5 days of growth. The seeds and their sprouts were lyophilised with an Alpha 1–4 freeze-dry system (Martin Christ Gefriertrocknungsanlagen GmbH, Osterode, Germany), ground in a knife mill Grindomix GM 200 (Retsch, Düsseldorf, Germany) and stored in the dark until further analyses.