**4. Conclusions**

The current study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional quality of beetroots to ascertain its potential use for formulation of novel functional foods. Furthermore, using beetroot juice in the development of a probiotic beetroot beverage using LA-5 and ABT-5 probiotic strains and evaluate the effect of the fermentation on the nutritional value of the beverage. The discarded beetroot wastes are rich in phenolics and antioxidants rather than crude fibers and minerals. Where the leaves had significant amounts of fibers, and lipids. Additionally, consuming 100 g of dried leaves powder meets the daily calcium recommendations as described by FDA (1000 mg/day). Beet juice, peels, and pomace exceed the daily iron recommendations (18 mg/day), which is considered an excellent source for iron and function as anti-malnutrition and anemia. Stems shared high antioxidant activity due to the high presence of phenolic compounds. Adding 40% milk to beet juice enhanced the growth of the probiotic strains on fermented beet beverage. The fermentation process resulted in a high lactate formation, which in turns resulted in a better taste, flavor, and thickening the consistency. Moreover, the fermentation increased zinc content in addition to antioxidant capacity. Hence, the finding of the current study emphasized the health benefits of beetroot' leaves and stems -which represent beetroots by-products-due to their high content of antioxidants and minerals. That is encourage utilizing beetroots by-products as a good source of novel food additives, food supplements and formulation of some novel functional foods.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.E.-S. and E.A.; Formal analysis, E.A.; Investigation, E.A.; Methodology, S.E.-S. and A.Z.; Resources, S.E.-S. and A.Z., Supervision, O.S. and S.E.-S.; Validation: A.A.; Visualization, A.A.; Writing—Original draft, E.A.; Writing—Review & Editing: O.S. and S.E.-S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** Authors acknowledge the department of Food science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University and Food Technology Department, Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute, City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), and A. Kh. A. Khalil, Specialist of Water Resources and Desert Soil, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt for supporting this study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
