Pollination and Plant Resources Change the Nutritional Quality of Almonds for Human Health

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Insect-pollinated crops provide important nutrients for human health. Pollination, water and nutrients available to crops can influence yield, but it is not known if the nutritional value of the crop is also influenced. Almonds are an important source of critical nutrients for human health such as unsaturated fat and vitamin E. We manipulated the pollination of almond trees and the resources available to the trees, to investigate the impact on the nutritional composition of the crop. The pollination treatments were: (a) exclusion of pollinators to initiate self-pollination and (b) hand cross-pollination; the plant resource treatments were: (c) reduced water and (d) no fertilizer. In an orchard in northern California, trees were exposed to a single treatment or a combination of two (one pollination and one resource). Both the fat and vitamin E composition of the nuts were highly influenced by pollination. Lower proportions of oleic to linoleic acid, which are less desirable from both a health and commercial perspective, were produced by the self-pollinated trees. However, higher levels of vitamin E were found in the self-pollinated nuts. In some cases, combined changes in pollination and plant resources sharpened the pollination effects, even when plant resources were not influencing the nutrients as an individual treatment. This study highlights the importance of insects as providers of cross-pollination for fruit quality that can affect human health, and, for the first time, shows that other environmental factors can sharpen the effect of pollination. This contributes to an emerging field of research investigating the complexity of interactions of ecosystem services affecting the nutritional value and commercial quality of crops.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummere90082
ZeitschriftPLoS ONE
Jahrgang9
Ausgabenummer2
Anzahl der Seiten7
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 27.02.2014

Dokumente

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Lüneburg 2030+ - ein Reallabor zur lokalen Implementierung der Sustainable Development Goals
  2. Innovatives Lernen zwischen betrieblichen Anforderungen und nachhaltigen Herausforderungen
  3. Hormonal chaos: The scientific and social origins of the environmental endocrine hypotheses
  4. Graf, Werner: Lesegenese in Kindheit und Jugend. Einführung in die literarische Sozialisation
  5. Governing Agricultural Biotechnologies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany
  6. Fingerprint analysis of brominated flame retardants and Dechloranes in North Sea sediments
  7. Fachspezifische Lerngelegenheiten zum Thema Inklusion an der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  8. Exploring Traps in Forest and Marine Socio-Ecological Systems of Southern and Austral Chile
  9. Der lateinamerikanische Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurs - von der Kapitalismuskritik zum „Guten Leben"
  10. Addressing social representations in socio-technical transitions with the case of shale gas
  11. 28 months later: the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for future sustainability challenges
  12. Vollzugsdefizite im Naturschutz und Strategien zur Durchsetzung von Naturschutzansprüchen
  13. Urbane Regenwasserversickerung als Eintragspfad für biozide Wirkstoffe in das Grundwasser?
  14. The contribution of material circularity to sustainability—Recycling and reuse of textiles
  15. Testing a Calibration-Free Eye Tracker Prototype at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
  16. Site and neighborhood effects on growth of tree saplings in subtropical plantations (China).
  17. Selbstbezug in videobasierten Unterrichtsreflexionen von Lehramtsstudierenden im Bachelor
  18. Influence of Ultrasound on Friction Induced Vibrations during Tightening of Bolted Joints
  19. Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment
  20. Foundations for the Development of Simulator-based Training for Older Professional Drivers
  21. Evaluation of an organizational health intervention for low-skilled workers and immigrants
  22. Energiewende steht für die Chance auf Re-Industrialisierung, nicht für De-Industrialisierung
  23. Characteristics, emerging needs, and challenges of transdisciplinary sustainability science
  24. Calculation of Physicochemical Properties for Short- and Medium-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins
  25. Ausspracheprobleme weißrussischer Deutschlernender und Schritte zur korrekten Aussprache
  26. Applying thematic analysis to analyse press coverage in cross-country comparative research
  27. Application of non-target analysis with LC-HRMS for the monitoring of raw and potable water
  28. Ann Radcliffe's Gothic - A Subtle Plea for Female Education in the Arts and in the Sciences
  29. Anforderungsprofile für erfolgreiches Führungsverhalten bei Unternehmenszusammenschlüssen
  30. Who Cares? Arbeitsteilung in Familien als letzte Hürde auf dem Weg zur Gleichberechtigung
  31. Weitergehende Prozessbewertung mittels Non-Target-Screening bei der Landeswasserversorgung
  32. Virtuelle Wertschöpfungskette - mit revolutionären Strategiekonzepten die Märkte erobern