title: Influences of Biodynamic and Conventional Farming Systems on Quality of Potato (Solanum TuberosumL.) Crops: Results from Multivariate Analyses of Two Long-Term Field Trials in Sweden.
abstract: The aim of this paper was to present results from two long term field experiments comparing potato samples from conventional farming systems with samples from biodynamic farming systems. The principal component analyses (PCA), consistently exhibited differences between potato samples from the two farming systems. According to the PCA, potato samples treated with inorganic fertilizers exhibited a variation positively related to amounts of crude protein, yield, cooking or tissue discoloration and extract decomposition. Potato samples treated according to biodynamic principles, with composted cow manure, were more positively related to traits such as Quality- and EAA-indices, dry matter content, taste quality, relative proportion of pure protein and biocrystallization value. Distinctions between years, crop rotation and cultivars used were sometimes more significant than differences between manuring systems. Grown after barley the potato crop exhibited better quality traits compared to when grown after ley in both the conventional and the biodynamic farming system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 101, SE 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden. lars.kjellenberg@slu.se.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kjellenberg
authors.affiliation: Biodynamic Research Institute, Skilleby, SE 153 91 Järna, Sweden. arturgranstedt@jdb.se.
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Granstedt
keywords: biodynamic agriculture; conventional agriculture; potato; principal component analysis; product quality