Crop quality

Exaggerated chemical application rates may also adversely affect the crop quality. If the exaggerated rate causes the crop to be abnormal in some way at maturity, the processing applied to the crop may not result in typical fraction samples. The adverse impact may be obvious, such as slowed maturation of the crop, or the impact may be less obvious, such as a change to the internal structure of the individual fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts or roots. 

Elsewhere in this book, experiments are described which compare organically grown products with conventionally grown products. The next steps will be to interpret these differences in terms of their effects on human health and finding ways of improving crop quality in the production phase. This will require a coherent concept of food quality, a concept in which food quality is more than the sum of exterior characteristics some specific health components and the absence of harmful contaminants. Moreover, we need a concept that connects the different phases of plant growth to properties of the harvested product and to human or animal health. The IQC can meet these requirements. 

Fernie AR, Tadmor Y and Zamir D. 2006. Natural genetic variation for improving crop quality. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol 9 196-202. 

Department of Food Science, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 horticultural Crops Quality Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD 20705... 

Deficiency of boron is a more prevalent worldwide agricultural problem than for any other agricultural micronutrient [62]. Adequate boron supplies are critical for maintaining high crop yields as well as good crop quality. For this reason it is common agricultural practice to apply boron-containing fertilizers in areas where soil boron deficiency is found. 

Granstedt, A. and Kjellenberg, L. 1997. Long-term field experiment in Sweden effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on soil fertility and crop quality. In Lockeretz, W. (ed.) Agricultural Production and Nutrition. Tufts University, Boston, pp. 79-90. 

Anac, D.. P. Martin-Prevel Improved Crop Quality by Nutrient Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwetl, MA, 1999. 

Weeds not only create problems by competing with crops and reducing yields, but also can impact harvesting and reduce crop quality (e.g., poisonous weed seeds in grain crops). Weeds also serve as an important habitat for insect pests and plant pathogens. 

Ecological farming A farming system that involves the coordination of various elements such as crop rotation, variety selection, fertilization, tillage, plant protection, productivity, crop quality, and environmental compatibility for growing particular crops. 

Naeve, S. L. Orf, J. H. Quality of the United States Soybean Crop US Soybean Crop Quality Survey, US Soyean Board 2006. 

We know that brassinolide and the other brassinosteroids are novel plant growth regulators that contribute either to crop yield increases or to promotion of crop quality. How do we successfully exploit them for their use in commercial applications to agricultural productivity ... 

Feeding the world s rapidly increasing population requires that farmers produce ever-larger and healthier crops. Every year they add hundreds of millions of tons of chemical fertilizers to the soil to increase crop quality and yield. In addition to carbon dioxide and water, plants need at least six elements for satisfactory growth. They are N, P, K, Ca, S, and Mg. The preparation and properties of several nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing fertilizers illustrate some of the principles introduced in this chapter. 

Intensive farming can deplete soil of essential nutrients such as magnesium, which then can adversely influence crop quality and yield. The most severe and widespread magnesium-deficient soils in the United States are in the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains, which therefore require the use of magnesium soil amendments. 

New plant biochemical regulators (PBRs) were observed to have profound positive effects on crop performance. For the crops that were tested, the PBRs improved both crop yield and yield quality. Negative correlations between crop yield and crop quality were not observed. 

Crop yield and crop quality are often determined by the same regulatory mechanisms that control crop growth rate and vegetative plant development (17,20,21). In PBR-treated tomato plants as shown in Table 1, harvestable crop yield is increased as much as 2.25 times that of the control (0.8 kg plant-1). 

Horticultural Crops Quality Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture... 

Avdonin, N. S., and Arens, 1. P. (1%6). Effect of molybdenum on biochemical processes in plants and crop quality (in Russian). Agrokhimiya 3 70-9. 

Molybdenum-Sulfur Relationships in Relation to Crop Quality... 

Application of S, either as gypsum or from other S sources, generally decreases the uptake of Mo by crops. Studies of soybeans have shown that decreases in plant Mo are not limited only to Mo-S interactions in the soil, because foliar-applied Mo has also been shown to decrease Mo concentrations in soybean seeds and leaves in the presence of soil-added S. On low-Mo soils this can lead to induced Mo deficiency, which can decrease yields and crop quality. On soils with high amounts of Mo, application of S can prevent the accumulation of high Mo concentrations and decrease the potential for Mo toxicity to livestock. Competition between sulfate and molybdate anions, competition between bicarbonate and molybdate, and root-zone pH changes have been suggested as explanations for the action of S to reduce Mo uptake. 

Some crops, such as tobacco, are especially sensitive to the amount and form of nitrogen applied, and to the relative concentration of the essential nutrients. In this case, crop quality is usually more important than quantity. 

In the case of artificial fertilizers, there is no such natural speed-limitation farmers can distribute as much as they wish on their lands. Excess fertilizers can catrse overstimulation of growth and while the farmers make a clear profit from the increased crop, quality rrsirally suffers. The resrrlts are similar to a person who eats constantly. The wisest corrrse of action is to use fertilizers only to replenish nutrients in soil without creating an overabundance of them. 

The main advantage of using synthetic products is that their costs are lower than those of natural products and they can always be obtained consistently without any problems related to poor crop quality or lack of supply or to difficulties using animal extracts, etc. In other words, artificial products cost less and represent fewer market variations. 

Generally speaking, composting is able to return food waste to the soil as a soil fertilizer, which can improve the yields and the crop quality by increasing the water holding capacity and water infiltration rates of the soil and also reducing the bulk density, erosion potential, usage of herbicides. 

The corresponding plant here consists of two FC-type crystallizers (Figure 16.14). The crystallizer on the left-hand side is operated as the first crop stage and the crystallizer on the right-hand side produces the second crop quality. 

Hort. Crops Quality Lab, Agricultural Research Service, USDA Beltsville Agricultural Res. Center, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA... 

In a previous report (21), it was reported that DCPTA has no effect or an inhibitory effect on chi content and net photosynthesis of bean leaves. Bean plants were analyzed 3 and 6 days after application of 200uM to 20 mM DCPTA. Our study showed that the effects of DCPTA upon plant photosynthesis are manifested only after extended periods of plant growth and in fully expanded mature new leaves which develop sxibsequent to DCPTA-treatment. Additionally, increased levels of Rubisco enzyme and chi accumulation in mature leaves of DCPTA-treated sugarbeet plants are observed only within the range of 3.0 to 30 uM applied DCPTA (1 to 10 ug/ml DCPTA). Our results appear to explain the disappointing results of earlier studies. The effect of DCPTA upon overall plant productivity in sugar beet is consistent with the crop improvements in net photosynthesis, crop yield, and crop quality demonstrated in other DCPTA-treated crops (1-4, 7, ). 

The work with DCPTA and other compounds demonstrate the effective use of bioregulatory agents to regulate vegetative plemt growth and development to achieve balanced improvements in agricultural crop quality and yield. 

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