Joint International Conference on Long-term Experiments ...

the standard deviation, the % deviation represents the extreme nutrient concentrations of
a given plant, as a result of the different soil types and different nutrient supply. The
high % deviation indicates that the intake of the specific nutrient is primarily influenced
by the environmental conditions, at the same time, the small standard deviation
indicates that the intake of the element is independent of the environmental factors and
the plant is supplied with the sufficient nutrients, but the amount built-in is significantly
controlled by genetics. Figure 1 demonstrates the % deviation.
Apparently, the standard deviation of some elements, which have an important role
in the build-up of the grain is small and are hardly determined by environmental factors.
As determined by genetics, the concentration of these elements in the grain have to be
small, they might have an impact on the yield. One of them may be the parameter that
can limit the yield, according to Liebig’s minimum theory. These elements include
sulphur, potassium, magnesium, manganese, nitrogen. Calcium, boron (especially at
wheat), iron, nickel, strontium and zinc are not expected to influence the yield of the
examined plants in the soils in Hungary. However, these elements can improve the
quality of the yield, as supplied in higher amounts, their concentration in the grain will
increase. Consequently, zinc has no influence on the quantity of the yield, but supplied
in higher amount, the plant can build more zinc into the grain, thus the raw material
produced will meet food and feed requirements. If these elements are not supplied, the
consumers of the products made from this raw material will develop malnutrition
symptoms of the specific microelement.
It is important to compare the microelement content of the specific plants in the
dietetics point of view. To compare the different data, we have normalized the nutrient
content of corn and peas to that of the wheat, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Comparing the nutrient content of the crops normalized to the element
content of the wheat
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