It could be for a number of environmental reasons; the concentration of available nutrients in the soil can have a huge effect on the uptake of nutrients by varieties, as do the environmental conditions, such as amount of photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, water availability etc. As they are unable to physically move great distances, plants are evolved to have plastic responses to environmental conditions, and as such react differently in different situations.

I think Beth did an excellent job of summarizing. Soils have very different nutrient levels that affect nutrient uptake. Climate probably has the greatest influence due to the affect on potential productivity. If productivity is high and soil nutrient supply is sufficient but not over abundant, the nutrient concentrations in the plant are more diluted, compared with low yield potential and higher soil nutrient levels resulting in higher plant nutrient concentrations. So it is a complex interaction of soil, climate and plant.

I agree with both of you. the productivity and quality of crops is the result of the complex interaction effect of soil, climate and genotype and management.. But what I really want is concrete evidence like published papers indicating why a specific variety of crop grown n different soils owns different nutritional and aesthetic quality.

With Regards

Following Remark,

I apologize all readers of my question that there were serious editorial mistakes like to say wheat I had typed heat, to write baking, I wrote braking. To please kindly consider the correction.

As the others have eluded to, there are many interactions that take place in soils. In particular, nutrient availabilty can differ greatly in different soil types. For example, potassium (K) availability can be highly varied , particularly in soils high in clay content as compaction and/or dry conditions can trap the K in the clay lattices in illitic soils rendering the nutrient unavailable to the crop even though soil tests may indicate an sufficient level of K for optimal crop growth.

Dear

thank you very much for suggesting possible answers to my question or point of discussion. I agree with all that variation in nutrient status of different soils, environment and their interaction greatly affects the quality of crops. But my problem is wither that variation is due to solely variations in soil nutrient status just like Brand stated or due to variation in climatic factors or their interactions. For example how much of the variation is due to difference in soil nutrient status, how much is due to climate and lastly how much of the variation in crop quality is due to interaction between the two. Thus I need tangible data showing why the same variety of a crop differ in its nutritional quality. I hope you will have some thing to show me.

Attached is a link to a recent paper which may provide some supporting data to your question(s).

https://www.agronomy.org/publications/search?search%5B-3%5D=Nutrient+Uptake%2C+Partitioning%2C+and+Remobilization+in+Modern%2C+Transgenic+Insect-Protected+Maize+Hybrids&searchType%5B-3%5D=Any&search%5B-2%5D=&searchFields%5B-2%5D%5BAuthor%5D=Author&searchType%5B-2%5D=Phrase&search%5B-1%5D=&searchFields%5B-1%5D%5BTitle%5D=Title&searchType%5B-1%5D=Phrase&volume=&issue=&year=&first-page=&journal%5Baj%5D=aj&search%5B0%5D=

Hi Brad,

Thanks a lot for the information. I will see it and come back.

Dear Brad,

I was unable to down load the full text of the paper the link of which you sent me. Probably I have to subscribe (pay) to get full access to the paper. But I read the abstract of the paper and indeed it is an excellent and innovative work concerning fertilizer management for maximizing maize yield. By this I mean that it deals with nutrient partition in maize varieties. The paper clearly shows when does maximum uptake of a particular nutrient occurs in the course of growth period of maize. This gives guide which nutrient to apply to maize when?. Thus, even the work is excellent it doesn’t address my question.

To state again what I really wanted is an experimental results on the quality of a specific variety of crop grown on two or more different types of soils under non-nutrient limiting condition and under the same environment (under greenhouse greenhouse).

Dear Wassie Haile ·

It in fact that soil play an important role in nutritional aspects of crops, however it is the soil microflora which indirectly influences the nutritional value of crops, as most nutrients in the soil are unavailable to the plant directly. The soil microflora like mycorrhiza and PGPRBS makes the unavailable nutrients available to the plants and influences the nutritional value of crops.

Dear Rafiq,

Yes I agree with you that soil micro flora especially mychorrizae plays very important role in improving the quality of crops produced. Because mychorrizal infection brings about complete change in the physiology of plants and I expect the quality is also affected like wise. However, what you and I stated are speculation. Thus, what I need is tangible evidences. If not this will be future research agenda for those who have lab. facilities. Because, I am from developing country where there are many limitations to research.

Follow up comment!

One of very reason for me to raise the question" why the same variety of a crop grown in different soils differ in its nutritional quality?" is based on my knowledge that the quality of Arabic coffee being produced in the eastern part of Ethiopia ( Formerly Haragie Province) and that produced in Yirgachefe district of southern Ethiopia are best and sells highest in the world market. Seeds of coffee from Haragie provenance were taken from its origin, raised and planted in other coffee growing areas of Ethiopia like south western and western part of Ethiopia. Yet the same quality coffee was not produced as that produced in the original place. Thus, my suspicion is that there my be mycorrizal fungi/VAM fungi specific to Haragie soil which is specific to Arabica coffee being grown there and that may have contributed to its high quality. I appreciate the former researchers for their courage to produce high quality coffee as that being produced in Haragie by taking seed from Haragie provenance and tried it in different part of the country even though they failed. Thus, in the future it is advisable to characterize and identify mycorrizal fungi associated with coffee in Haragie and that from different parts of the country and study whether they are similar or different, effect on coffee quality etc..

Follow up comment!

One of very reason for me to raise the question" why the same variety of a crop grown in different soils differ in its nutritional quality?" is based on my knowledge that the quality of Arabic coffee being produced in the eastern part of Ethiopia ( Formerly Haragie Province) and that produced in Yirgachefe district of southern Ethiopia are best and sells highest in the world market. Seeds of coffee from Haragie provenance were taken from its origin, raised and planted in other coffee growing areas of Ethiopia like south western and western part of Ethiopia. Yet the same quality coffee was not produced as that produced in the original place. Thus, my suspicion is that there my be mycorrizal fungi/VAM fungi specific to Haragie soil which is specific to Arabica coffee being grown there and that may have contributed to its high quality. I appreciate the former researchers for their courage to produce high quality coffee as that being produced in Haragie by taking seed from Haragie provenance and tried it in different part of the country even though they failed. Thus, in the future it is advisable to characterize and identify mycorrizal fungi associated with coffee in Haragie and that from different parts of the country and study whether they are similar or different, effect on coffee quality etc..

In my humble opinion, coffee is a highly market driven crop, and in the upper tier of quality there is very little to distinguish the different types. However market history, branding, and marketing tend to play a huge role in the success of coffee regions. So when you say that the "same quality" of coffee was not produced because it does not sell as high on the world market, I am a little skeptical as to whether or not that is a true reflection as the the quality of the coffee.

However, in response to your question there are many, many interactions between plants and their environment that affect the chemical composition (i.e. nutritional quality) of the product. Like others mentioned the soil nutrients play a role, and as you mentioned interactions with microbes/mycorrizal fungi can also play a role. Other examples are rainfall patterns and solar radiation. Another not mentioned is herbivory of plants by insects or attacks by microbes/diseases can greatly affect the chemical production of a plant. I am doing a project now examining the ecological drivers to the quantity/quality of a chemical compound in a plant used for perfumes, and we are finding that herbivory rather than climate is the primary driver (although the herbivory is obviously related to the climate conditions that suite the insects).

I havenʻt read much in the scientific literature, but have done a lot of research with sugarcane, and there is huge amounts of studies and reports in the grey literature about field trials and how they affect the quality of the plant product. Because sugarcane is reproduced through clones/cuttings these studies show well some of the major impacts on the final plant product quality. There are hundreds of years of these trials to examine. The bottom line is that yes, soil and soil nutrients greatly affect the chemical production of the plants, even if the plants are genetically identical. Wetting regimes also greatly influence the quality. However, individual varieties respond differently to different availabilities of soils, so while I know that you are after specific answers to how it is affected, I would caution against generalizing off of some scientific results, because in examining well over 100 years of such studies around sugarcane the specifics of the results are not generalizable across different varieties of the same species, much less different species.

Also these older studies did not know as much about things like micorrizal fungi and microbes, so there in much less examination of that. From my experience as a soil biogeochemist I would argue that they are extremely important and likely very influential, although again will vary in their influence in different environments and with different crops.

Dear Lincoln,

First of all thank you very much for your important contribution to the discussion point. Apart from that the main reason for me to indicate coffee in my previous discussion was to use it just as an example how quality of crops grown in different environments and soil types vary. Marketing of coffee was not my prime concern. In your discussion you said that you are skeptical of quality difference in coffee. In fact I am not expert in coffee but just from what little I know about coffee, there is wide difference among the quality coffee beans produced in different parts of Ethiopia. Those professionals working on coffee know that the different quality parameters like the caffeine content, cupping quality or taste etc. are such parameters used to grade coffee beans. Professionals in coffee and traditional coffee drinking people in Ethiopia all agree that coffee coming from eastern Ethiopia and some pocket areas in the south and south west are high quality. These all shows that there are big differences in quality of coffee produced in different parts of Ethiopia. But you many still not accept my argument on coffee quality. Yet am I am sure that you accept that the same variety of specific crop grown on different soil types and environment greatly vary in its nutritional and aesthetic quality. Now this is my prime concern that what really causes the difference in quality.

We all know that any plant/crop and its product/quality is the product of the function of genotype, environment (climate, agro-ecology, soil type, rainfall pattern, soil microbes etc.) and management (agronomic managements, postharvest handling etc.). In my point of discussion I kept the contribution of genotype to quality constant and let us now keep the management aspect constant or uniform for a particular crop variety and see the effect of environment which include soil type, climate variable and soil microbes. If we consider these factors, definitely they impart tremendous variation in the quality of a given variety of a crop. And what I know and what I learned from our preceding discussion that environmental factors interact among each other and bring about differences in crop quality. If am right, what I wanted to know is what is the contribution of each factor to the quality of a crop under every other environmental variable is kept constant. Say for example what is the quality of a crop variety look likes when grown in two or more different types of soils but under the same climatic conditions? Is there a difference in the quality of wheat grain for example grown in same soil but in different climate conditions? How much is the contribution of soil microorganisms like mycorrizal fungi to crop quality in a situation where every other variable are kept constant?

Let me quote a sentence from you discussion “The bottom line is that yes, soil and soil nutrients greatly affect the chemical production of the plants, even if the plants are genetically identical” I know this very well. But my question is that what will happen to the quality of a WHAET variety X grown say on Red soil and black soil under condition where sufficient amount of plant nutrients are applied to both soils?

Sorry for the tangent argument on the coffee....I live in the "coffee belt" of Hawaii, and that was really just some of my frustration with the industry coming out.

I am sorry to misunderstand your question. I think it is a very interesting one, but not one that, as far as I know, been extensively studied. One point I was trying to make in my last post is that I think the relative importance of the different factor (i.e. climate vs soil vs irrigation) is going to be different for different plants, I think I could make some general statements on your question about sugarcane, but the work I am doing now on a different plant (a different grass in fact) we are finding different results. Furthermore, I would say the relative contributions (or climate vs. soil) will greatly depend on the quality of the other. For instance, plants will be more respondent to climate when they are unlimited by soil nutrients.

As to what would happen in black vs. red soils if both were heavily fertilized to have the name nutrients available Iʻm not sure. That is a very interesting question.

Dear Lincoln,

I am happy that now you have understood me very well. You have cleanly stated what I exactly wanted to know about. Thank also for appreciating my question. I hope that scientist around the world will give me answer to my question. If not the issue will be a topic for future research. Because if we know which factor contribute to the quality of plants what and to what extent, it will lay a foundation for manipulating these factors in such a way that we will be able to produced the desired products from plants. Even if we know a lot about plants, soil and environment and their interaction, there also a lot which we don't know. For example we know that there are 17/18 essential plant nutrients and some five or more ( I am not sure ) elements classified as beneficial nutrients. We say this based on our current detection technology. But with the advance in analytical techniques like infra red technology, other elements than what we know today may be essential nutrient. I am saying this with ground. For example when I was doing for my Bsc. some 25 yrs ago, I was taught that there were only 16 essential plant nutrients but now they are 18 now. Thus, how can we be sure that these 18 essential nutrients are remain to be the only essential plant nutrients for ever. what if the quality difference in a variety of a crop grown in different soil types is due to the presence and uptake of other element other than known elements as essential and beneficial nutrients.

This is purely speculative now, but one different I could imagine is that the way the nutrients will be bonded to soils will vary under different soil types, and so plants will have to either produce different chemicals/enzymes, or form relationships with different microbes/fungi to access the same nutrients in different soils, so that could maybe have an effect? I do hope other people chime in on this because I think it is a very fascinating question.

Dear Wassie Haile

I am working on effect of mycorrhiza on stem modified plants. I observe that mycorrhiza changes the physiology and so is the case with nutritional aspects of underground stem propagules. I have already communicate this work and is under review this time. How mycorrhiza changing the nutritional aspects of crops.

Dear Lincoln,

Yest my previous comment was speculative because no one has yet gave me tangible answers to my question. Thus, speculation was the only avenue to address my question and in act excellent assumptions and speculation are coming out in the course of our discussion. One best example is the one that you have indicated in the discussion above.

Dear Lone

It is very good that you have done some thing in this perspective and I hope you will shares us your paper soon after it is published.

I was wondering if this paper might help you: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2014.00288/full?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Plant_Science-w28-2014. I think it's open access (sorry if it's not). 

Dear Beth Penrose,

Thank you very much for the information. I have sucessfully downloaded ithe article and seen it. It is very important work and yet it doesn't give answer to m question.

Dear Wassie Hail

That is a good question. Answer is in the relationship between crop quality and absorbed nutrients, also the effects of the environment on crop quality. These are reasons of differences between the quality of a variety in two different environment.

Mohammad