Organic plant products are of more improved chemical composition than conventional ones

Abstract

Considering the negative effects of conventional agricultural production, organic food production is a sustainable approach to production, which preserves the environment and protects human health. Organic products are products of high quality, without residues of pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Through the review of literature data, the authors of this paper presented a comparative study on the chemical compositions of organically vs. conventionally grown plants and their products. Dry matter, nitrates, sugars, vitamins, macro-and microelements, as well as, secondary metabolites have been singled out. The analysis of collected data revealed that organic products contained more dry matter, significantly fewer nitrates, fewer proteins and a higher proportion of amino acids, more sugars, vitamin C, numerous macro-and microelements (particularly Fe, Mg and P), more polyphenols and they had higher total antioxidant capacity than conventional products. Although many authors have been dealing for many years with the comparison of the nutritional composition of organic and conventional food products, a clear consensus whether organic products have an improved chemical composition compared to conventional products has not been reached yet, i.e. the conclusions are ambivalent. Therefore, further long-term studies are necessary to clarify the existing doubts.

Nutritional value and antioxidant capacity of organic and conventional vegetables of the genus Allium

“…On the other hand, a study on the nutritional value of tomatoes failed to confirm a relationship between the type of cultivation and levels of essential amino acids; however, conventional tomatoes had significantly higher content of some non-essential amino acids 20 . The high availability of nitrogen from mineral fertilizers used in conventional farming is the most likely reason for the higher protein content in vegetables grown under this method 5 . Differences in the content of protein and amino acids in favour of conventional vegetables are especially evident in nitrophilic vegetables 21 .…”

“…Unfortunately, these vegetables can also contain chemical pollutants in the form as pesticide residues and nitrates. For this reason, organic agricultural products, perceived as healthier and free of this type of contamination, are becoming increasingly popular 5 .…”

Seed Health Treatments in Organic Seed Production

“…The share of the land used for organic farming has been steadily increasing worldwide for many years, as well as, the organic products market (organicworld.net, 2022;Golijan et al, 2017;Golijan and Dimitrijević, 2018). Organic products are more beneficial and environmentally safe, similarly or more alimental and contain lower amounts of pesticide residues or do not contain any residues compared to conventionally produced food (Golijan et al, 2021;Golijan & Sečanski, 2021a). The aim of organic farming can be achieved by the application of various practices including polycrop rotation, diverse combination of crops and farm animals, pulses, organic manure and biological pest control (Vaško and Kovačević, 2020;Golijan et al, 2021).…”