THE IMPACT OF PLANT PROTECTION AND FERTILIZATION ON CONTENT OF BIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN ORGANIC HOPS

Hop (Humulus lupulus) is one of the basic raw materials employed in brewing. All hops secondary metabolites exhibit pronounced bioactive effects. Therefore beer is the most important source of hop bioactive compounds in the human diet. Xanthohumol is the major prenylated flavonoid occurred only in the hops plant. The aim of this study was to determine the content of selected biologically active compounds in organic hops in comparison with conventional depending on plant protection and fertilization regimes. Organic hops had higher contents of the most important biologically active substances as xanthohumol, flavanols and alpha-acids, especially affected by probiotic microorganisms with plant extracts as plant protection agent. Significant differences in the content of xanthohumol were found between all types of tested organic fertilizers, but the highest content of this compound was recorded in result of plant fertilization with basalt meal. Both the probiotic microorganisms enhanced plant extracts as plant protection agents and basalt meal and basalt meal with manure and probiotic microorganisms as organic fertilizers the most positive influenced the biochemical parameters of hops.