Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) and its relationship with agroclimatic characteristics: A Colombian perspective

Abstract

A diversity of crops of agri-food interest are produced in the Colombian highlands, including quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), an annual herbaceous plant with white, yellow, red or black seeds, containing between 12% and 21% protein. It is an important source of lysine and methionine. Historically, this plant has played a fundamental role in human nutrition, due to its multiple benefits for disease prevention and treatment. Salinity is the abiotic stress most studied in quinoa; however, the development of this crop on all continents has led to the study of other factors, such as cold and heat, resulted by the increase in weather patterns. This review describes the progress in the temperature effects, photoperiod, atmospheric CO2 concentration and agronomic aspects on the growth and development of quinoa, as well as compositional characteristics of the seeds and their prospective related to the agroclimatic diversity of Colombia.

Phenotypic Characterization of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) for the Selection of Promising Materials for Breeding Programs

“…This species presents high phenotypic variability that can be easily recognized by the pigmentation of the plant, inflorescences and seeds, earliness diversity, shape and size of grain, compaction of the panicles, and resistance to adverse factors, such as drought, frost, excess humidity, salinity, and diseases among others. This variability explains the ability of this species to adapt to different agroclimatic conditions [ 3 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Phytopathological Threats Associated with Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) Cultivation and Seed Production in an Area of Central Italy

“…Until 2018, quinoa was considered a major crop only in Bolivia (70,763 t, 111,605 ha), Peru (86,011 t, 64,660 ha), and Ecuador (2146 t, 2048 ha) [ 11 , 12 ]. However, quinoa is currently cultivated in all continents [ 13 ] because there have been numerous attempts at quinoa introduction from the area of origin to other countries, including the European ones. The number of countries growing the crop has increased from 8 in 1980, to 40 in 2010, to 75 in 2014 [ 2 ].…”

Chlorophyll fluorescence and its relationship with physiological stress in Chenopodium quinoa Willd.

“…There is not available a holistic analysis of the resistance of quinoa to drought since drought treatments have been established using different methodologies (volumetric and gravimetric humidity, soil water tension and crop evapotranspiration). Additionally, the genetic character of each cultivar or variety of quinoa has not been taken into account, which can significantly influence the ecophysiological response and adaptability to drought (García-Parra et al, 2020). Consequently, additional studies that include a greater number of genotypes and simultaneous measurements of a physiological, morphological and anatomy should be performed to allow obtaining a more complete knowledge of the response to drought, since the use of chlorophyll fluorescence as indicator variable of stress of water deficit is not enough and could generate inconclusive data to determine the effect of stress by another biotic or abiotic factor.…”

“…Quinoa, Chenopodium quinoa Willd., Belongs to the Amaranthaceae family and is a pseudocereal native to South America (Bedoya-Perales et al, 2018). This crop is important for human and animal nutrition, as well as for its medicinal and agro-industrial properties (Ahumada et al, 2016;Navruz-Varli and Sanlier, Among the adaptability characteristics of quinoa are its resistance to drought, waterlogging, reduce nutrient availability, radiation changes, edaphic salinity, temperature fluctuations and pests and diseases (García-Parra et al, 2020). That resistance may be due to this plant presents C3 photosynthetic metabolism and genetic rusticity associated with considerable phenotypic plasticity, which allows it to adapt to adverse climatic and edaphic conditions, through modifications in its tissues, organs, productive cycles and therefore, in the physiological and biochemical routes (Becker et al, 2017;Bunce, 2018).…”