Worldwide Evaluations of Quinoa: Preliminary Results from Post International Year of Quinoa FAO Projects in Nine Countries

Abstract

Chenopodium quinoa Willd., a high quality grain crop, is resistant to abiotic stresses (drought, cold, and salt) and offers an optimal source of protein. Quinoa represents a symbol of crop genetic diversity across the Andean region. In recent years, this crop has undergone a major expansion outside its countries of origin. The activities carried out within the framework of the International Year of Quinoa provided a great contribution to raise awareness on the multiple benefits of quinoa as well as to its wider cultivation at the global level. FAO is actively involved in promoting and evaluating the cultivation of quinoa in 26 countries outside the Andean region with the aim to strengthen food and nutrition security. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the adaptability of selected quinoa genotypes under different environments outside the Andean region. This paper presents the preliminary results from nine countries. Field evaluations were conducted during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 in Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), and the Near East and North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Mauritania, and Yemen). In each country, the trials were carried out in different locations that globally represent the diversity of 19 agrarian systems under different agro-ecological conditions. Twenty-one genotypes of quinoa were tested using the same experimental protocol in all locations consisting in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Some genotypes showed higher yields and the Q18 and Q12 landraces displayed greater adaptation than others to new environmental conditions. The Q21 and Q26 landraces were evaluated with stable and satisfactory levels of yield (>1 t.ha−1) in each of the different trial sites. This production stability is of considerable importance especially under climate change uncertainty. While these results suggest that this Andean crop is able to grow in many different environments, social, and cultural considerations remain crucial regarding its possible introduction as a staple food in new cropping systems around the world.

Yield and Quality Characteristics of Different Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) Cultivars Grown under Field Conditions in Southwestern Germany

“…Puno and cv. Titicaca [10,27], were chosen to evaluate the agronomic performance of commercially available quinoa cultivars. Since these cultivars were created by the same breeder (Table 1), and therefore could have similar selection criteria regarding the originally used landraces, we additionally examined another registered European quinoa cultivar (cv.…”

“…Parents were mostly chosen based on multi-environment long-term results for seed yield, seed size, sensitivity against photoperiod, tolerance to lodging, drought tolerance, or pre-harvest sprouting resistance [24]. However, despite complex interactions between genotypic properties and environmental factors, quinoa breeding programs mainly focused on cultivars producing high yields [25][26][27]. Even though, some studies highlighted abiotic factors to influence the nutritional profile of quinoa seeds [28][29][30], there is little information on quality of different European quinoa cultivars or rather the mechanisms triggering quality changes [3,31,32].…”

Multi-Environmental Evaluation for Grain Yield and Its Components of Quinoa Genotypes Across the North Western Coast of Egypt

“…Also, they indicated that the Q-52 variety responds to the drought by closing the stomata and also reducing the leaf area to decline the transpiration rate. On the other hand, Regalona proved to be more tolerant to the drought stress due to the fact that it was produced by cross breeding of genotypes from two different sources, one close to the equator (low altitude) and the other one from southern Chilean region ( low levels of rain) (Bazile et al, 2016).…”

“…Globally, FAO evaluated the performance of 21 quinoa genotypes in 26 countries representing 19 agrarian systems. Results indicated that landraces Q21 and Q26 were more stable with a satisfactory yield (> 1 t/ha) across the different environments (Bazile et al, 2016). The genotype by environment interaction is analyzed by statistical methods to describe G x E data (van Eeuwijk et al, 2005).…”

“…Climate data are the main factors to decide the sowing date, and to understand the best position in the crop calendar for water use efficiency and to avoid high temperatures, especially at the flowering stage, therefore, quinoa is considered a winter crop in Egypt (Bazile et al, 2016). In Egypt, Shams et al (2011) studied the effect of four sowing dates of quinoa i.e., 15 Nov., 15 Dec., 1 Feb. and 15 Feb.…”