Vegetable crops supply esseential vitamina and minerals for human nutrition and survival. However, most scientists concentrated their effort on crops low in nutrition value, causing much health problem in the developing world. In Asia alone, 300,000 children blind each year due to vitamin A deficiency and 40% population suffered from iron-deficient anemia. Their health and social consequence was unmeasurable. A practical remedy was to increase consumption of DGLVs through home garden program.
Field experiment conducted in East-West Center in Hawaii documented that a 200 sq. ft. small garden could yield vegetable fulfilling RDA of 5 people 200% of vitamin A value and ascorbic acid, 27% iron and 9% protein. Promotion of home garden program requires research, training and education, codination, and policy support. Horticulturists should play important role on all these aspects.
Seeds for Peace Project and proposal for establishing home garden training centers at different levels will be reported.
Nutrition is an important orchard management factor. In integrated fruit production (IFP) there is a tendency to reduce the impact of some elements like nitrogen from soil applications and to replace them by leaf applications. For some elements like magnesium or manganese a leaf application can be a very efficient way to prevent deficiency symptoms on the leaves; for other elements these effects can not be proved sufficiently. In this paper we discuss some standard nutritional practices of Belgian fruit growing; for some of them there is sufficient scientific support for others there is not. A general overview is given in which the different foliar applications are positioned in function of the phenological evolution of fruit trees.
Abstract
When one searches the literature for information pertaining to the nutrition of woody ornamental plants it soon becomes obvious that there has not been too much published in this field. And most of the experimental work on the nutrition of trees has been concerned with varying combinations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Also, most of the work that is reported was done in the field, either to trees growing in the landscape or in nurseries and as a result most of the studies report a positive response only to the application of nitrogen and little or no response to the application of phosphorus or potassium. A brief review of some of the literature on fertilizer experiments is contained in the works of Wikle (18) and Himeleck (9). Since this symposium is concerned with potassium in horticulture, I will confine most of my remarks to the place that this mineral element has on the growth and development of woody ornamental plants.
conditions, which could benefit from soil nutrient mineralization and microorganism activity, hydroponically grown plants are exclusively dependent on direct fertilizer supply to meet their nutritional needs. As such, a sound understanding of crop
indicated by increased growth rate and plant quality ( Wang, 1995 , 1996 ; Wang and Konow, 2002 ). Thus, nutrition and growing media selection are critical factors for commercial production of orchids. Unfortunately, information on fertilization and
Abstract
Roots have a strong influence on plant composition, but differential ability to absorb nutrients is only part of a maze of interactions affecting mineral concentrations in plant tissues. Most reports on rootstock effects on mineral nutrition are based on leaf analysis, but all other tissues are involved. Rootstock and scion effects are reciprocal, and the influence of the scion can be as strong as that of the rootstock. Variation in distribution pattern, capability of nutrients to move across bud unions, environmental and soil factors, fruit load, and, above all, the genetic makeup of stock and scion are intimately involved. There is a large amount of literature on rootstock effects on scion composition, but generally other horticultural properties outweigh nutritional effects when a rootstock is chosen. This is especially true for the major elements. The main use of nutritional properties of rootstocks has been to avoid toxicities, especially those of Cl and B, which are difficult or impossible to avoid by other means, and to avoid deficiencies.
et al., 2017 ; Sun et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, salinity-induced nutritional disorders are common. High Na + and Cl – levels are associated with decreased K + concentrations in plant leaves that lead to K + deficiency ( Sun et al., 2015 ; Taiz
also reduce electricity costs by shortening the time to harvest ( Ohtake et al., 2015 ). Here, we examined the effects of alternating red and blue light by LEDs at different intervals but at the same DLI on the growth and nutritional properties of leafy
., 2008 ). Leaf Mn is often high in blueberry due to the acidic growing conditions ( Retamales and Hancock, 2012 ). Relationships between key chemical compost traits and plant growth and mineral nutrition of northern highbush blueberry One of the primary
Many concepts of the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables generally accepted in the past, in the light of more knowledge, today are considered “misconceptions.” For example, the tomato, once considered poisonous, then shown edible, later proved to be a “good” food and a valuable source of minerals and vitamin C, today shows the potential for significant anti-cancer activity. Results of a 6-year study of the dietary habits of 47,000 men reported up to a 45% reduction in the incidence of prostate cancer of those who ate 10 or more servings per week of tomato-based products. Other misconceptions to be discussed include nightshade vegetables and arthritis, apples after meals to clean the teeth and gums, and “if a little is good for you, a lot must be better.” Today's nutritional ideas about many fruits and vegetables may become tomorrow's misconceptions as our knowledge of the composition (e.g., phytochemicals) of fruits and vegetables increases. Examples of this are include the use of muscadine pomace and the nutritive value of strawberries.