Wheat Bran Content in Heavy Metals: Organic vs Conventional

Abstract: Nowadays organic food production is a current topic due to the consumers increasing orientation toward safer and healthier products. Organic food derives from the agricultural systems that follow strict production techniques and chemical input rules. Wheat bran samples derived from two different production systems in the Northeast part of Romania were analyzed for heavy metals content, using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed with SPSS Statistics program in order to determine the significance of the differences between the means. Lead concentration was higher in the conventional analyzed wheat bran samples, while copper and zinc concentration was lower in comparison with the organic analyzed samples. Although for cadmium, in both research years and for zinc, no significant differences between means were observed, a moderated relation between the two systems, with statistical significance at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) was registered with higher mean values for the conventional system.

Reference: Aionei, N. M., and I. M. Pop. (2013). Organic versus conventional wheat bran content in some heavy metals. Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Animal Science and Biotechnologies 70(1): 183-184. Available online at http://journals.usamvcluj.ro/index.php/zootehnie/issue/archive