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.

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The existence of more of 16,000 varieties of quinoa accessions around the world has caused a disregard on their structural and phytochemical characteristics. Most of such accessions belong to cultivars settled in Colombia. The goal of this research was to evaluate the structural attributes and antioxidant capacities from six quinoa cultivars with high productive potential from central regions in Colombia. This study used middle-range infrared spectroscopy (IR-MIR) to determine the proteins, starch and lipids distinctive to quinoa grains. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization Orbitrap, along with high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC/ESI-Orbitrap MS), were also used to identify the existence of polyphenols in cultivars. The antioxidant capacity was determined through DPPH, ABTS and FRAP. The spectrums exhibited significant variances on the transmittance bands associated with 2922 cm−1, 1016 cm−1 and 1633 cm−1. Moreover, the intensity variations on the peaks from the secondary protein structure were identified, mainly on the bands associated with β-Sheet-1 and -2, random coil α elice and β-turns-2 and -3. Changes found in the ratios 996 cm−1/1014 cm−1 and 1041 cm−1/1014 cm−1 were associated with the crystalline/amorphous affinity. Regarding the antioxidant capacity, great differences were identified (p < 0.001) mainly through FRAP methods, while the phenolic acids and flavonoids were determined by UHPLC/ESI-Orbitrap MS techniques. The presence of apigenin and pinocembrin on grains was reported for the first time. Titicaca and Nariño were the most phytochemically diverse quinoa seeds.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is native to South America; it is characterized by its high nutrient contents and high adaptation capacity to diverse edapho-climatic conditions, which highlights it´s genetic variability expressed as multiple physiological and phenological responses. The objective of this research was to evaluate the physiological response and proximal composition of the grain to three types of fertilization under the environmental conditions of the municipality of Oicata (Boyaca, Colombia) located at 2,875 m a.s.l. The white Soracá variety was planted using a completely randomized design with four treatments and four replicates. It was observed that the fertilization sources have an effect on the physiological and phenological behavior, mainly on the number of leaves, length of stem and chlorophyll content. The reproductive stage and the proximal composition of seeds changed, which is attributed to the application of mineral organic fertilizer that improves the production of quinoa grains, while N-P-K contribution shows greater growth and vegetable development, but less yield.

The protein, carbohydrate, and fat characteristics of quinoa grains reflect in their techno-functional potential. This aspect has been little studied in quinoa, while some physicochemical and rheological characteristics have been generalized for all cultivars under all primary production conditions. The aim of this research is to determine the agro-industrial potential of different quinoa cultivars evaluated under different environments through physicochemical and rheological responses. This study has a factorial design with a first level corresponding to cultivars and a second level to production zones. The results showed that the cultivars present high compositional variability. It was also found that the altitudinal gradient changes protein and starch composition, protein secondary structure, and starch structural conformation. In addition, significant variations were found in viscosity, breakdown, and dispersion setback for all treatments. However, there were no differences between treatments before heating/cooling and after heat treatment.

El objetivo del trabajo fue estudiar el ciclo de vida de las publicaciones relacionadas con la producción de quinua (Chenopodium quinoa Willd), mediante las curvas en S. La revisión bibliográfica se efectuó en la base de datos Scopus. El análisis de la información sistematizada en el tiempo, se hizo con curvas en S que fueron construidas en el programa estadístico SigmaPlot®. Los resultados indican que las investigaciones se centran en las relaciones entre: Chenopodium – estrés, quinua – estrés, quinua – fisiología y quinua –grasa, perfilándose como áreas estratégicas de investigación y desarrollo tecnológico. Igualmente, el estudio de la quinua presenta avances significativos en Europa y Estados Unidos, mientras que en suramérica se han desarrollado principalmente en Argentina y Chile. Lo anterior permite deducir el bajo interés científico e investigativo de países productores y exportadores de quinua, como: Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador y Colombia. Esto último se constituye en una oportunidad para que los países de origen de la quinua, establezcan líneas de investigación y programas de formación de alto nivel, encaminados al fortalecimiento de la quinua como un alimento promisorio en la búsqueda de la seguridad alimentaria.

The conditions of the agroecological environment play a fundamental role in the physiological performance of quinoa; however, due to the accelerated expansion of quinoa cultivation and the great diversity of cultivars present in the world, it has not been possible to study the effect that their interaction can have, which brings with it problems in productivity and even in the adaptability of cultivars. The aim of this research was to evaluate the physiological performance of seven quinoa cultivars under three altitude gradients in the central region of Colombia (cold, temperate and warm climates). The research was developed using a completely randomized design with a 3 × 7 factorial arrangement where the first factor corresponded to the study areas and the second factor to the selected cultivars. The results showed a highly differential performance between the phenological, physiological and compositional variables, mainly between the quinoa cultivars planted in cold climates and those established in temperate and warm climates. In this sense, the time elapsed between the phenophases, the physiological activity associated with the chlorophyll content and the quantum efficiency of photosystem II, as well as the grain yield and its protein content, are highly influenced by the cultivar and the altitudinal gradient. The results obtained support the notion that the physiological performance of quinoa depends largely on the edaphoclimatic environment by influencing different agronomic and compositional parameters of the seeds. Additionally, it was possible to identify that the evaluated quinoa cultivars were grouped into two large groups. The first group is made up mainly of the Nueva and Soracá cultivars, while the second group includes the Nariño and Puno cultivars. These four cultivars show a lower effect of the factors and their interaction on the parameters evaluated.

Photosynthetic activity is a fundamental process in the physiology of plants, and its regulation plays an important role in determining the effect of abiotic factors. Quinoa is a plant species of agronomic and nutritional interest that has been recognized for its adaptability to extreme environmental conditions, however, climate change may result in unfavorable conditions capable of affecting the natural development of this species, which is of great interest culture and research in South America. To evaluate the response of quinoa to stress, techniques could be used that quantify the loss of light energy through its dissipation in the form of heat. However, the measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence is the most widely used and accessible technique for field research, which allows to recognize the relationships between the plant and agroclimatic factors. This review summarizes the physiological effects of heat, radiation, salinity, and nutrient and water availability, as well as their possible interactions on quinoa.