Chia (Salvia hispanica) experiment at a 30˚ N site in Sichuan Basin, China

Abstract

The mysterious ancient Mesoamerican Indian crop chia (Salvia hispanica) is revived and expanding worldwide due to its richness of valuable nutraceuticals such as α-linolenic acid (ALA), antioxidants, food fiber, gels, and proteins. We carried out a pilot experiment on chia planting in non-frost Sichuan Basin, at Hechuan Base (30˚0′ 43″ N, 106˚7′ 41″ E, 216 m), Southwest University, Chongqing, China. The split-plot trial contained two factors, 3 spring-summer sowing times as main plots, and 6 densities as subplots, with 3 replicates. Phenological, botanical, adversity, yield, and seed quality traits were investigated. Plants were very tall, suffered from lodging, and flowered in mid-October. Sichuan Basin can be considered as a north edge for growing chia, with low yield (680 kg/hectare) because of insufficient seed filling and maturation in autumn-winter season (1000-seed weight of 1.14 g). However, its ALA content is 5 percent points higher than the seed-donor commercial bottle (65.06%/63.96% VS 59.35%/59.74% for black/white seeds), accompanied by decrease oleic and stearic acid, while linoleic acid and palmitic acid are equivalent. Considering its short-day habit, it is recommended to try sowing in middle summer (from late June to early August) to avoid too long growing period, excessive vegetative growth, and waste of field and climate resources caused by spring-summer sowing. Furthermore, winter sowing of chia with mulch cover could also be tried, with an expectation of harvesting in summer. Most importantly, only when the photoperiod-insensitive early flowering stocks are created, chia can be recommended as a low-risk crop to the farmers of this region.

Performance of Chia on Different Sowing Dates: Characteristics of Growth Rate, Leaf Area Index, Shoot Dry Matter Partitioning and Grain Yield

“…The response to the photoperiod is the main factor that explains the longer duration of the vegetative phase in the early sowing, which provides higher plants and, on the contrary, a shorter duration of the vegetative phase in late sowing, which results in shorter plants. The results are consistent with those observed in short-day species such as soybean (Jiang et al, 2011;Meotti et al, 2012;Zanon et al, 2015a), and corroborate with the results of Win et al (2018) for the cultivation of chia in China.…”

Fodder Yield, Quality and Growth of Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) as Affected by Sowing Density and Top-Dressing Nitrogen Fertilization

“…In their case, physiological maturity was reached 66 days after planting, while, in our case, the onset of flowering was recorded around 100 days after sowing. Our primary branch number was similar to that reported in China by Reference [52], which measured chia morphology as affected by population densities and by sowing dates. Unlike us, they found no effect of stand density on chia morphology.…”

“…Other experiments show little or no effect on plant biometrics from N [26], and authors [26,50,51] argue that fertilization can actually reduce plant density by increasing lodging rates and can hence reduce total biomass on a surface basis. The same comment was made in a paper reporting that heavy fertilization coupled with long vegetative cycles in the Sichuan Basin, China [52] leads to lodging rates as high as 98% by stimulating vegetative growth. Nitrogen can enhance lodging also through a lower lignification of plant tissues.…”

“…Nitrogen can enhance lodging also through a lower lignification of plant tissues. The effect of the water regime on lodging is controversial [52].…”

Caracterización de colectas de chía de la región occidental de México

“…En las últimas décadas ha resurgido, las propiedades nutraceúticas y sus atractivos beneficios nutricionales han ampliado su consumo (Xingu et al, 2017). La distribución de este cultivo crece aceleradamente, sin embargo, existen pocas fuentes de información que puedan proporcionar datos actualizados respecto a su producción y distribución mundial (Jamboonsri et al, 2012;Baginsky et al, 2016;Grimes et al, 2018;Win et al, 2018), S. hispanica y S. tiliifolia son las dos especies que se utilizan para la producción de semilla.…”