Agronomic performance and strategies of promoting Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) in Malawi

Abstract

M.F.A. Maliro, and A.L. Njala. 2019. Agronomic performance and strategies of promoting Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) in Malawi. Cien. Inv. Agr. 46(2): 82-99. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) has the potential to contribute to Malawi's food and nutritional security by adaptation to droughts that have become frequent due to climate change. Eleven genotypes of quinoa were introduced in 2012 and evaluated for plant growth and yield performance in different environments of central and southern regions of Malawi to determine the potential for quinoa production in the country. The first trials were conducted at Bunda in Lilongwe and Bembeke in Dedza in 2012 under irrigated conditions. Trials under rainfed conditions were conducted at the Bunda site in the 2012/13 and 2014/15 cropping seasons. Evaluation of thirteen promising genotypes under irrigated conditions (2014 to 2015)was extended to six extension planning areas, including Chiluwa in Salima and Nkhunga (Nkhotakota) as warm environments, Mwansambo (Nkhotakota) as a mildly warm environment, Malomo (Ntchisi) as a mildly cool environment, and Kalira 2 (Ntchisi) and Nalunga (Dowa) as cool environments. The genotypes were laid out in completely randomized block designs with four replicates. The maturity period of the genotypes was early in the warm sites (88 days in Nkhunga and 94 days in Chiluwa) and delayed in the cooler sites (121 days in Nalunga and 120 days in Kalira). On the basis of genotype and site-specific results, the highest grain yields were achieved for Brightest Brilliant Rainbow (BBR) (3,992 kg ha -1 ), QQ74 (3,652 kg ha -1 ), Black Seeded (3,426 kg ha -1 ), Multi-Hued (3,272 kg ha -1 ) and Puno (3,251 kg ha -1 ) in Nalunga and in QQ74 (4,311 kg ha -1 ), BBR (3,331 kg ha -1 ), Multi-Hued (3,184 kg ha -1 ) and Cherry Vanilla (3,056 kg ha -1 ) in Malomo. The lowest yields obtained were from Cherry Vanilla, Red Head (1,276 kg ha -1 ) and BBR (1,255 kg ha -1 ) in Chiluwa. Quinoa production is possible in Malawi. The genotypes QQ74, BBR, Multi-Hued, Cherry Vanilla, Bio-Bio, Titicaca and Black Seeded have been released for commercial production. Engagement of both government and nongovernmental organizations with a focus on seed systems, processing and utilization can help to integrate quinoa into the food systems of Malawi.

Assessment of Phenotypic Diversity in the USDA Collection of Quinoa Links Genotypic Adaptation to Germplasm Origin

“…Argentina by [ 14 ]. In addition to these analyses, where genotypic, environmental and G × E components of variation were identified, many more evaluations were performed with varying degree of detail in the analysis, such as in India [ 15 ], the Middle East and North Africa [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], Central Africa [ 19 , 20 ] and China [ 9 ]. More detailed descriptions of quinoa evaluation at national levels can be found in [ 2 ], in their report on the State of the Art of Quinoa in the World in 2013.…”

“…Given the current legal restrictions to access germplasm from the Andean Region [ 24 ], the USDA germplasm collection (including more than 140 accessions) has been the basis of several adaptation and breeding programs internationally [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 20 ]. This collection includes accessions from most countries of traditional cultivation and provided sources of traits like male sterility [ 25 ] adaptations to hot environments [ 17 , 26 , 27 ], resistance to pre-harvest sprouting [ 28 , 29 ] or prolonged seed viability [ 30 ].…”

Phenotypic intrapopulation variation in quinoa from the department of Boyacá, Colombia

“…Although preferably autogamous, quinoa shows notable inter and intra-population genetic variation, easily observable in rural plots, and quantifiable by molecular markers (Del Castillo Gutiérrez & Winkel, 2014). For morphological markers, global studies on quinoa diversity have shown variability in the phenotypic characteristics of the evaluated germplasm (Maliro & Njala, 2019). None of these studies attempted to explain the distribution of genetic variation between the different levels of organization of the species.…”

Intrapopulation phenotypic variation in Piartal (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) from the Department of Boyac, Colombia

“…Although preferably autogamous, quinoa shows notable inter-and intra-population genetic variation, easily observable in rural plots, and quantifiable by molecular markers (Del Castillo and Winkel, 2014). For morphological markers, global studies on quinoa diversity have shown variability in the phenotypic characteristics of the evaluated germplasm (Chura et al, 2019;Maliro and Njala, 2019).…”