Improving nutritional quality and safety of food and fodder crops in South Eastern Europe (SEE) countries

Dep. of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Project leader: Bal Ram Singh
Co-workers: Trine Sogn, Åsgeir Almås, Harald Volden (IHA), Mensur Vegara (NORAGRIC)
Cooperating institutions (SEE):
Faculty of Agriculture, Sarajevo, Bosnia: Salko Muratovic, Emir Dzomba, Senada Cengic.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sarajevo Bosnia: Lejla Saracevic, Cazim Crnkic, Fahira A. Zecic, Nedzad Gradascevic.
Faculty of Agriculture, Banja Luka Bosnia: Milanka Drinic, Mihajlo Markovic.
Faculty of Agriculture, Osijek; Croatia: Zdenko Steiner,Zvonko Antunovic Vlado Kovacevic,Zvonimir Stajner.
Faculty of Agriculture, Novi Sad, Serbia: Maja Cuvardic, Branko Cupina
Source of funding: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD)
Project period: 2006-2009

This is a multidisciplinary and international project with an overall aim to strengthen institutional collaboration between the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) and the universities in South Eastern European (SEE) countries ( Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia) in the field of research, competence building of academic staff and training of Ph.D. and M.Sc. students. The research focus for this collaboration will be on nutritional quality and safety of food and fodder crops in SSE region. The project will be executed in four work packages (WPs) consisting of sampling and analysis of soil, plant and animal samples for essential and toxic elements, field and laboratory experiments in soil, plants, and animals and finally synthesis of mineral element relationship in the soil plant, animal systems. The results generated will provide the basis for guidelines on nutritive values of Cu, Zn and Se and risk associated with toxic elements (Cd and Pb) for food and fodder crops . The project will further strengthen cooperative network between UMB and SEE universities and will provide information useful to producers and policy makers in the region.

Objectives:
1. Comparison between industrial and non-industrial areas with respect to contents of toxic metals as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) and radio nuclides on one hand and essential elements as copper (Cu), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), sulphur (S) and phosphorus (P) on the other, in food and fodder crops and in animal products
2. Evaluate the impact of production factors (soils), farming systems and farm inputs (fertilizers/organic wastes) on the nutritional quality of food and fodder crops. Improving the quality and safety by influencing the mobility of essential elements and immobility of harmful elements in soils and thereby leading to food fortification (essential elements) and food safety (harmful elements).
3. Establish relationship between quality elements in fodder crops and animal health by conducting feeding experiments on animals.


Updated: 27.03.06
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