When whea
t was grown under condi
tions of severe sulfa
te deple
tion, drama
tic increases in
theconcen
tra
tion of free asparagine were found in
the grain of up
to 30
times as compared
to samplesreceiving
the normal levels of sulfa
te fer
tilizer. The effec
t was observed bo
th in plan
ts grown in po
ts,where
the levels of nu
trien
ts were carefully con
trolled, and in plan
ts grown in field
trials on soil wi
thpoor levels of na
tural nu
trien
ts where sulfa
te fer
tilizer was applied a
t levels from 0
to 40 kg sulfur/Ha.Many of
the o
ther free amino acids were presen
t a
t higher levels in
the sulfa
te-deprived whea
t, bu
tthe levels of free glu
tamine showed increases similar
to
those observed for asparagine. In bakedcereal produc
ts, asparagine is
the precursor of
the suspec
t carcinogen acrylamide, and when floursfrom
the sulfa
te-deprived whea
t were hea
ted a
t 160
![](/images/en<font color=)
ti
ties/deg.gif">C for 20 min, levels of acrylamide be
tween2600 and 5200
![](/images/en<font color=)
ti
ties/mgr.gif">g/kg were found as compared
to 600-900
![](/images/en<font color=)
ti
ties/mgr.gif">g/kg in whea
t grown wi
th normal levelsof sulfa
te fer
tiliza
tion.