Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) / This study aimed to determine the nutrient content (Co, Cr, F, I, Se and V) of various vegetable based food items collected from the Cape Town area in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. This was done to determine which vegetable crops provided the highest concentrations of essential trace elements, and how much they contribute to the daily recommended intake (DRIs) of these trace elements. It also aimed to assess the effects of the addition of the trace elements (Co, Cr, F, I, Se, Si, Sn and V) on seed germination and root growth under controlled conditions in order to calculate their phytotoxicity, and then to biofortify four vegetable crop species, grown in sand culture, with a composite treatment of the trace elements to determine how the addition of these elements will affect the vegetable crops grown under these experimental conditions.
From this study, it was shown that trace element content in vegetable crops in the Western Cape Province of South Africa varied between different geographic locations and that certain trace elements were absent from several items collected from some areas. Although some crop species contained sufficient amounts of certain trace elements to satisfy our daily recommended intakes, most of the crops were found to contain insufficient amounts of many of the trace elements to satisfy our needs. Leafy vegetables and tubers were identified as the better vegetable types to biofortify with essential trace elements as they already contain higher concentrations of several of the essential trace elements and should thus be assessed for their effectiveness as crops to be biofortified. When the trace elements were applied directly to cress and lettuce seeds, it was found that all the trace elements, as well as the composite treatments, exerted phytotoxic effects on cress and/or lettuce seeds when applied athighconcentrations. Lettuce was found to be more prone to the effects of these elements. Seed germination was strongly inhibited by fluoride, while several elements affected root growth. When fluoride was left out of the composite treatment, phytotoxicity only occurred at high concentrations. The addition of the trace elements at the high concentrations to already established spinach, cabbage, lettuce and turnip plants were found to affect the uptake of several essential plant nutrients, but the concentrations of the elements affected generally remained higher than the concentrations needed for adequate growth of agricultural crops. Several of the trace elements supplied to the plants were also found to be retained in the roots of the vegetable crops however, as the concentrations supplied to the plants increased, so did the concentrations found in the edible portions of the crops
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/4053 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Müller, Francuois Lloyd |
| Contributors | Raitt, Lincoln |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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