Nutritional Factors Influencing the Yield of Buckwheat in the New England Tablelands

Abstract

Buckwheat ('Fagopyrum esculentum Moench') belongs to the family 'Polygonaceae'. Although it is not a member of the grass family 'Poaceae', (Hughes and Metcalfe, 1972; Martin et al., 1976: Taylor, 1996), it is considered as a pseudocereal (Hughes and Metcalfe, 1972) and as a nutraceutical (DeFelice, 1994 ). The most appealing quality of this crop is its high nutritional value, which contains protein of very high biological value (Eggum, 1980; Javomik, 1980). Buckwheat grain is used in many ways for human use throughout the world. Buckwheat, native to temperate east Asia, where it was grown in China before 1000 AD (Robinson, 1980), has proven itself to be widely adopted around the world. It is of economic importance in many countries including Nepal, India, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Canada, United States, and Brazil (Mazza, 1986). Research demonstrating the many health benefits of buckwheat consumption is impressively large while research related to the nutritional requirements of buckwheat as related to soil type is lacking in many parts of the world.