A Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), pertencente à família Amaranthaceae, subfamília Chenopodioideae, é originária dos Andes, onde tem sido cultivada há milênios (Mujica-Sanchez et al. 2001). Com grande variabilidade genética e relativa tolerância a estresses abióticos, como baixas temperaturas, déficit hídrico, salinidade e acidez (Jacobsen et al. 2003), a espécie desponta como opção para diversificar a agricultura brasileira. Nos últimos anos, parcerias entre a Embrapa Cerrados, Universidade de Brasília e agricultores têm estimulado a sua adaptação e cultivo no Brasil (Spehar 2007).Seu grão possui proteína de qualidade, que atende às necessidades básicas em aminoácidos essenciais, no balanceamento protéico de alimentos e ração animal. Ademais, atende, também, à crescente demanda por alimentos equilibrados e funcionais,

Saponin-free quinoa genotypes were evaluated in summer and autumn-winter sowings, for phenotypic traits and yield stability. They were obtained by single plant-progeny selection from hybrids, as part of the breeding efforts in adapting the crop to the Brazilian Savannah environments. The soils (Ferralsols) were limed and fertilized prior to cultivation. The experiment was sown in two dates: 20th December 2006 (summer), and 30th April 2007 (autumn-winter), at 15°39 0 and 16°14 0 S latitude, 47°27 0 and 47°44 0 W longitude, with altitudes of 976 and 1,110 m, respectively. The mean temperature and rainfall for the summer sowing were 23.0°C and 723 mm. In autumn-winter, under controlled irrigation, the mean temperature was 2.9°C lower than in summer, when plants were exposed to water logging spells. The treatments consisted of fourteen selected genotypes and the varieties Kancolla, BRS Piabiru and Q4.5, used as controls. Comparisons were based on plant height, biomass and grain yield, harvest index (HI) and 1,000 seed weight. The experimental design was a complete randomized bloc, with three replications. Analysis of variance was performed for each sowing and jointly. Statistical differences for the environments were evident only for grain size and plant height. The performance of selected genotypes in each sowing date and in the joint analysis, allows saying that populations Q0779, Q0780 and Q0782 are potentially useful in the acquisition of stable genotypes for the Brazilian Savannahs.

This study aimed to evaluate the proximate composition of quinoa grown in the central plateau of the Brazilian Cerrado during the summer and winter periods. Grains of the Kancolla, BRS Piabiru, and BRS Syetetuba varieties were evaluated for parameters such as moisture, dry matter, ash, protein, lipids, carbohydrates, crude fiber, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium. It was observed that the proximate composition of quinoa grains varies depending on the cultivation period, with higher averages in the summer. However, in both periods, the Brazilian averages were higher than those reported in the worldwide literature for quinoa grains. Regarding the mineral components, grains grown in the summer period had higher levels than in the winter, when compared to the worldwide standards for quinoa. The BRS Syetetuba variety showed superiority in the levels of the evaluated parameters compared to the other varieties.

No abstract

No abstract

The centesimal analysis of grains is performed with the crushed sample as a way to minimize time and reduce costs with reagents. However, milling is an expensive task when there are a large number of samples. Thus, this work evaluated the need for grinding quinoa grains for the determination of protein and lipids by the semi-micro Kjeldahl method, using concentrated sulfuric acid and a temperature of 450 °C, and by the methodology using petroleum ether in an automatic extractor (lipids ). There was no statistically significant difference between whole and ground grain samples. Thus, it is recommended that, for protein and lipid analysis with these methodologies, it is not necessary to grind the grains.