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.
Highlights
Organic agricultural production can be most defined through its goals: the production of healthy and high-quality food through the preservation of the environment, soil and its fertility, biodiversity, agro- and ecosystem, with the simultaneous improvement of health and productivity of interdependent communities, life of land, plants, animals and people (Mirecki, Wehinger & Jaklič, 2011; Popović et al, 2016)
Major conclusions Lipophilic antioxidant capacity was increased under organic soil fertility management (25%) conventional
Differences in chemical compositions between organically and conventionally produced foods vary in dependence on a plant species, production season, morphological parts of the plant, as well as on observed nutrients, which makes it difficult to draw a single conclusion on the impacts of production methods on the chemical composition of plants and plant-based products
Summary
Organic agricultural production can be most defined through its goals: the production of healthy and high-quality food through the preservation of the environment, soil and its fertility, biodiversity, agro- and ecosystem, with the simultaneous improvement of health and productivity of interdependent communities, life of land, plants, animals and people. Studies on the difference in dry matter contents between organic and conventional food products are mainly related to vegetables and fruits. Organically grown leafy, root and tuber vegetables have a higher dry matter content than conventionally grown vegetables (Woëse et al, 1997; Bourn and Prescott, 2002; AFSSA, 2003), while no difference was detected in other types of vegetables and fruits. The majority of studies indicate that when a higher amount of nitrogen is available to a plant, its intake is higher, which results in a higher content of nitrogen and nitrates in crops (Bourn & Prescott, 2002)
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