Nutritive value of wheat grown under organic and chemical systems of farming

1) 21±2 day old LACA mice, derived from litter sizes 8–10 and maintained at 22.2±0.6°C and 58.0±1.5% relative humidity, were housed as 5 or 5 per box and fed 1 of 4 experimental diets or a control diet.2) The experimental diets were made from flour produced from wheat grown on the Organic, Mixed or Stockless (chemical) Sections of the experimental farms at Haughley, or a neighbouring farm using intensive farming methods. The flour was supplemented with vitamins and minerals and made into biscuits. In 2 of the 5 experiments the diets were also supplemented with casein. The control diet was Spratts Laboratory diet 1, formerly known as Laboratory Small Animal Diet (Autoclaved).3) At 65±2 days old the mice were put together as monogamous pairs and their subsequent breeding performance monitored.4) The litter size at birth, the weaning ability of the mother, and the time interval between successive litters were recorded. Separate analyses of variance performed on the data for each parameter for each experiment failed to detect a difference in the performance of the animals receiving wheat grown on the 3 Sections of the experimental farms.5) All offspring were sexed and weighed at weaning. Analyses of variance showed a significant difference in these weights. The animals derived from parents receiving wheat from the Mixed Section were consistently heavier than those derived from parents receiving wheat from the other Sections of the experimental farms. This evidence suggests that agricultural practise can influence the nutritional value of crops.