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Fresh sprouts constitute an appealing, nutritional and functional food product. The present study profiles the nutritional and bioactive components of quality of fresh sprouts of five select species (barley, lentil, mung bean, radish and wheat) against their postharvest performance during 4 °C cold storage. Moreover, the impact of lyophilisation followed by 30-day ambient storage was assessed on sprouts composition and quality. The highest proteins, P and K contents were observed in radish sprouts. Moreover, radish sprouts demonstrated higher hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activities (HAA and LAA) by 185% and 95%, respectively, than the other species examined. Compositional and quality attributes were however influenced by storage: total soluble solids increased on average by 1.0 °Brix after day 0, while LAA activity decreased by 33% after day 1. Dry matter, proteins and nitrate contents, juice pH and HAA remained stable. Lyophilisation preserved the compositional and quality attributes of fresh sprouts as no significant differences in proteins, nitrate, K and P contents, HAA and LAA were observed compared to fresh sprouts. The current findings highlight genotypic variation and postharvest performance of fresh sprouts with respect to their functional quality and the impact of lyophilisation as an alternative processing application for their preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]