Increase of soybean nutritional quality with nonstandard foliar fertilizers

Abstract

Deficiencies of mineral elements in human nutrition could be surpassed by crop fortification. One of the prevalent measures of fortification is foliar fertilization. The aim of this study was to determine the content and availability of the mineral nutrients Mg, Fe and Zn, together with phytate, as an anti-nutritive factor, and β-carotene as a promoter of mineral nutrient availability in grain of two soybean cultivars (Nena and Laura) treated with different non-standard foliar fertilizers (mainly based on plant extracts). Generally, a negative correlation between Fe and phytate indicated that factors which decrease phytate and increase β-carotene could be primarily responsible for Fe utilization by humans and animals. Zlatno inje (based on manure) had the highest impact on increasing the grain yield and decreasing the ratios between phytate and mineral elements in Nena grain, while for Laura, it was generally Zircon (based on an extract of Echinacea purpurea L), increasing also availability of mineral elements.