From gruno@att.net.hk Sat Dec  4 20:49:19 1999
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 21:40:48 +0800
From: Keith Addison <gruno@att.net.hk>
To: "sanet-mg-digest@ces.ncsu.edu" <sanet-mg-digest@ces.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Impact of soil biology on nutritional quality

> > She is interested in investigating crop nutritional
> > quality as a function of a crops genetic potential for
> > nutritional quality and interactions with species such as rhizosphere
> > colonists,
>
> Very good area of study, possibly she could consider open pollinated
>crops in comparison to their hybrid cousins...looking at mineral
>content, vitamins, etc. I believe OP usually willl uptake a more varied
>nutrient mix, tho sometimes fail on depleted soils  where hybrids
>willget by.
> Im still a firm believer that the real limiting factor in uptake of
>nutrient by any particular crop is the soil  the crop is grown
>in....Study of nutrient uptake for the improvement  of the "genome" is
>certainly warranted, but is still  a bandaid , I believe ,in comparison
>to studying methods/theories on soil balancing...
>which is truly a multi-lifetime endeavor.
>bill evans

 From memory, in the mid-80s Britain's Soil Association published 
figures from the US showing a protein decline in wheat from 15% to 8% 
(?) in the previous few decades. The SA would have seen that as a 
matter of farming methods and soil practices as well as crop variety 
changes.

I'm sorry, these references are in my library, but half my library is 
5,000 miles south of here! (where it's in good use at least).

Sir Albert Howard's work might also be of interest. He's mostly known 
as the man who developed Indore composting and founded the organics 
movement, but most of his work in India was on improving varieties, 
mainly of wheat. He and his wife formed a brilliant scientific team 
during a long career in India. They achieved good results with the 
wheat, but this was as a part of an overall strategy that also 
included Indore composting and early work with mycorrhiza, and had a 
strong focus on soil management, as well as on the real requirements 
of Indian cultivators. A good reference is "Sir Albert Howard in 
India", by L.E. Howard, Faber, London, 1953. It's more about his work 
than a biography. It's online at Steve Solomon's Soil & Health 
Library:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/index.html

In these three cases it might be possible to determine the influence 
of crop variety:

On Oct 6 Steve Driver wrote (SANET):

>"The Healing Power of Minerals, Special Nutrients and Trace 
>Elements" by Paul Bergner (1997, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA) 
>includes USDA figures that show a decline in mineral and vitamin 
>content of several fruits and vegetables between 1914, 1963, and 
>1992. Table 1 is a summary of mineral decreases in fruits and 
>vegetables over a 30-year period, adapted from Bergner's book.

On 16 Nov 1999 Chris Alenson posted a message "Food nutrition and 
soil regeneration" (SANET) listing changes in nutritional content 
with improved soil management in Australia.

Rodale's current "Letter to the USDA" campaign focuses on studies of 
government reports in the US and UK which revealed significant 
declines in mineral and vitamin content in a variety of raw fruits 
and vegetables in recent decades.
http://www.organicgardening.com/articles/article2.html

I hope this helps.

Keith


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