Futterwahlversuche mit Nagern zur Überprüfung der Qualität von Produkten aus biologischem und konventionellem Anbau

Summary

There is a substantial amount of evidence to support the concept, that animals are
capable of choosing a balanced diet. This capability is used in food preference tests
with laboratory animals. So far it has been postulated, that for animals to be able to
choose, at least one of the offered foods has to be nutritionally unbalanced, otherwise
there would be no benefit in choosing (Forbes and Kyriazaks 1995). But in organic
quality research food preference tests with laboratory rats have shown, that even in
cases of comparable nutritional value significant preferences took place, when the test
products originated from different growing systems. Examples are comparative studies
with wheat, carrots, beet root, celeriac and apples of organic vs conventional origin.
The aim of these animal feeding studies is to define product properties beyond
chemical composition, due to potential interactions within and between biological
systems. In a current project (http://qaccp.coreportal.org/) effects on the quality of
carrots within the whole food chain are investigated. Preliminary results of food preference
tests with laboratory rats and mice are mentioned.