[Use of fertilizers and the quality of wheat protein]

The fractional and amino acid composition, as well as efficacy, net utilization and nitrogen retention ratios of protein from wheat grown under the conditions of introducing different fertilizers into the soil were studied in experiments on rats. It was found that the biological value of protein from wheat grown with the use of organic and organomineral fertilizers which were introduced into the soil on the basis of a gradual increase in their amounts appeared to exceed that from wheat harvested in the control area. Mineral fertilizers provided a higher content of protein, with its quality being virtually unchanged. The differences in the biological value confirm the respective changes in the content of protein and its fractions in the blood serum of experimental animals which received over a month the same wheat as a constituent of the balanced diets. The absence of good agreement between the chemical composition of protein and its biological value allows a conclusion about the desirability of research into the biological value of food wheat with due regard for the fertilizers introduced.