Effects of Good Agricultural Practices on Proximate Content and Sterol Composition of Hazelnut
Good agricultural practices are defined as a production method encompassing all production and marketing stages, from soil to table. Before making a decision, the crops or agricultural activities previously grown in the production area should be known and their impacts on human health and the environment should be evaluated. If there are risks that cannot be controlled, these areas should not be used for good agricultural practices. In order to protect soil health, reduce dependence on pesticides and maximize plant health, rotational production should be practiced. Studies on this production system, which prioritizes human and environmental health in hazelnut, are extremely limited. Therefore, this study was carried out to reveal the difference between good agricultural and conventional practices in hazelnut. In order to achieve this objective; moisture, total lipid, protein, carbohydrate, ash, energy value, and sterol composition of hazelnut oil were investigated. Effects of cultural practices on hazelnut chemical composition were generally found to be significant (p˂ 0.01). Total lipid, cholesterol, 5-23 stigmastadienol, 7-avenasterol, sitosterol, and ∆5-avenasterol were higher in good agricultural practices than in the conventional practices. Consequently, based on present findings that there will be great benefits in widespread of good agricultural practices in terms of human and environmental health.