Nutrient Supply Capacity Determination for Acid Soils Planted with Vegetables Using the Double Pot Technique

A double pot technique experiment was conducted to determine the nutrient supplying capacity of five acid soils planted with three vegetables such as cabbage (Brassica oleracea), maize (Zea mays) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). The soils used in the study were taken from Kibangay, Bukidnon; Mapayag, Bukidnon; Kapatagan, Davao del Sur; Claveria, Misamis Oriental and Cabintan, Leyte representing the acid soils of southern Philippines planted to vegetables. Results of the nutrient omission trials showed that the three vegetables tested have varying responses to five different soils as affected by nutrient availability. In most soils, regardless of vegetable planted, nitrogen (N) availability was the most critical nutrient affecting vegetable production followed by phosphorus (P) in the case of Cabintan and potassium (K) for Mapayag, Kibangay, Kapatagan and Claveria, respectively. This valuable diagnostic tool offers a cheap and simple method of assessing the nutrient supplying capacity of the various soils tested

Fatty acids, minerals, phenolics and vitamins in the seeds of <i>Inocarpus fagifer</i>, a Pacific Island underutilized legume

Recently, Pacific nations have faced to alarming increase in prevalence of noncommunicable diseases connected with consumption of non-traditional processed food. It is believed that re-introduction of native diet may mitigate these negative trends. One of the traditional staple food of Pacific region are seeds of underutilized leguminous tree Inocarpus fagifer. Nevertheless, information on their chemical composition and nutritional properties are missing. Therefore we decided to analyze this crop for the presence of fatty acids, minerals, phenolics and vitamins. Performed analyses revealed a slightly predominating portion of unsaturated (e.g. 18:2 n-6; 18:1 n-9 and 18:3α n-3) over saturated (e.g. C18 and C16) fatty acids. Considering minerals, the substantial concentrations of copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc (19.32; 1823.21; 8.44; 23308.41 and 77.99 mg kg-1 of dry matter respectively) were recorded. Ferulic and coumaric acids were the most abundant phenolics (3.23 and 1.48 mg kg-1 of dry matter respectively), whereas flavonoids, isoflavonoids and coumestrol were also present. Regarding vitamins, niacin and riboflavin were found in respective concentrations 131.80 and 4.47 mg kg-1 of dry matter. Our findings suggest I. fagifer seeds as a prospective food source of several health-beneficial constituents which might contribute to the well-being of Pacific islanders.   The online version of this article (doi: 10.5073/JABFQ.2016.089.034) contains a supplementary file