Study 10 Food Plant, United States

Figure 6.5 shows the structures of tra 5-cinnamic acid and four cinnamic acid derivatives (phenolic compounds) reported to be present in potatoes. Because potatoes are one of our major food plants, we validated with the aid of HPLC and LC/MS the content and distribution of antioxidative phenolic compounds in parts of the potato plant, in potato tubers, in the peel and flesh of tubers, in potatoes sold commercially in Korea and the United States, and in home-processed potatoes. The following discussion, based on our own studies, is followed by a brief overview of analytical methods for potato phenolic compounds by other investigators. 

USGS. 1980. Elements in fruits and vegetables from areas of commercial production in the conterminous United States Geological survey professional paper 1178 A biogeochemical study of selected food plants based on field sampling of plant material and soil. Washington, DC U.S. Department of the Interior. 

In the 1880s, Richards worked as water analyst for the Massachusetts State Board of Health while teaching at MIT. She conducted a two-year survey analyzing over 100,000 samples of drinking water in Massachusetts. From this study, she produced the first state water quality standards in the United States, which in turn led to the first modern sewage treatment plants. Her later studies in food quality led to state food and dmg standards. 

However, little is currently known about the impact of endophytes on food web dynamics in any natural ecosystem. There is a potential for the grass/endophyte symbiosis to impact more than the associated animal and plant communities. The ecosystem level consequences of endophytes have begun to be considered by a few researchers [106]. These consequences include carbon flow into soil food webs, such as the endophyte effects on litter decomposition and soil microbial activity and changes in soil nutrients availability and secondary compounds that may feedback to the plant community. The two agronomic species L. arundinaceum and L. perenne investigated the most are not native to places where they have been studied (United States and New Zealand) [106]. Further studies in natural ecosystem remain to be done before realistic ecological impact of endophytes can be studied. 

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