Effects of culivation conditions for apples on growth rates of fruit fly larvae and contents of phenolics

Summary

The different cultivation treatments significantly and systematically affected both rate of development of fruit fly larvae and contents of phenolic compounds, but not the total number of flies produced. This is in accordance with the hypothesis that cultivation methods can give large enough changes in composition of plant foods to affect physiological aspects important for health of consumers.
It indicates that further stusies should be made of the links between plant cultivation, plant composition and health, for example regarding the question of the nutritional value of organic versus conventional food.