Quinoa

GEERTS, S; GARCIA, M; S E JACOBSEN; VACHER, J. J; WINKEL. T; BERTERO, H. D

Crop Yield Response to Water

FAO

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2012; p. 142 - 235

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), a species of the goosefoot (Chenopodium) genus of the family of sugar beet, beetroot, mangold and spinach, is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a seed crop, rather than a true cereal, or a grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. It is native to the Andean mountains where this traditional seed crop has been cultivated in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes for more than 7 000 years. Although the production declined significantly during the Spanish conquest, popularity of quinoa rose again in the last century. Production is now widespread in the Andes, covering Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and the north of Argentina and Chile. As a crop with a large food utilization potential, it is rapidly gaining interest globally, being already fairly known in North and Central America, Brazil, Europe and Asia (Schulte auf’m Erley et al., 2005). First results also indicate the potential of quinoa in Africa. In 2009, 83 thousand hectares were sown to quinoa, producing 69 000 tonne of grain at an average grain yield of 0.8 tonne/ha (FAO, 2011). The worldwide trend for cropping area and production over the last 50 years is shown in Figure 1. Quinoa is characterized by an enormous intra-species variety and plasticity that allows the crop to grow under highly diverse climatic and agronomic conditions. It is well adapted to arid and semi-arid locations and grows from sea-level to high altitudes, up to Andean Altiplano at around 4 000 m above sea level, where its cultivation is of special importance. Quinoa is cultivated as a mono-culture (e.g. Southern Bolivian Altiplano) or in rotation with potato and barley, and sometimes with wheat and maize at the low altitudes. When cultivated as mono-culture, fields are left fallow for 1 to 3 years and sometimes even longer (up to 10-12 years) for pest control, soil fertility regeneration and build up of the soil water reserve. Traditionally, a range of quinoa landraces is cultivated in the same vicinity, though for export purposes a few local cultivars sown in monoculture are generally preferred (e.g. quinoa var. Real Blanca). Daylength neutral cultivars of quinoa can be grown under the long day conditions of northern Europe (Christiansen et al., 2010).