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Show Nutrition and Soil Fertility 31 without leaven, but a professional would be stumped to make anything edible from wheat flour and water alone. But with leaven, yeast, or baking powder, wheat becomes the supreme bread-making grain." Work in progress, when this project was interrupted, clearly indicated that by careful selection of micro organisms and the carrying of the leavening processes far enough it is possible to split much of the phytin phosphorus, increase the vitamin content of grain and also improve the biological value of the protein. We have found bacteria which will live on bran and mineral salts yielding highly nutritious proteins together with large quantities of the vitamin B complex. Is it possible that the scientists of the future will use these or other micro-organisms in synthesis of artificial proteins of high biological value? Barker and Dudoroff have synthesized sucrose by means of enzymes. Why in the future does not the laboratory replace the field in the pro duction of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and vitamins? These are the dreams of science today, but do not dismiss them lightly. The dreams of the scientists in one age are the realities of all in the next. However, for the present, let us stay with "mother earth." It is in it and due to it that these marvelous transformations are going on. The farmer is a foreman of a fac tory in which cheap, yes, often useless materials-the carbon and nitrogen of the air, the hydrogen and oxygen of' the water, and the phosphorus, calcium and other minerals of the soil-are trans formed into our bounteous crops. The value of a cow is measured in pounds of butterfat pro duced. Why not the yield per acre in pounds of protein, vitamins and minerals? If this project, as outlined, had been carried to completion we would have known the quantity of each in the flour bran and shorts of wheat grown under varying conditions on one acre of soil. Quantity alone does not guarantee good nutri tion, but quality must also enter. Animals, including man, are dependent upon the composition of the food they eat. The food we produced is dependent upon the soil on which it is grown. If we as a state and as a nation are to merit and maintain our lead ership, we must conserve our rich native soil. It is ours to use, not to waste nor to destroy. He who depletes it not only defeats his objective, the production of large nutritious crops, but also robs the present and future generations of their heritage. SUMMARY Approximately 20 per cent of the energy of 51 wheat eating nations is obtained from wheat flour: hence the chemical compo sition of' wheat is of prime importance. The protein content of Utah grown wheats compares favorably in quantity and quality with that of wheat grown elsewhere. |
