Exploiting genotypic variability from low-altitude Brazilian Savannah-adapted Chenopodium quinoa

Abstract

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.

Quinoa bitterness: causes and solutions for improving product acceptability

“…Quinoa, in fact, is still an underutilized crop, and breeding efforts to improve its agronomic traits (length of growing season, crop yield) are required to expand its production worldwide, especially at higher latitudes, where some lines are characterized by poor yields . There is a general consensus that development of sweet cultivars with little or no saponin is one of the most important breeding objectives for the future, not only to improve crops in South American countries but also in Mediterranean environments . However, breeding this trait into quinoa varieties is still a challenge due to the difficulty of measuring saponin levels prior to anthesis and fixing appropriate alleles .…”

Characterisation of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) accessions for the saponin content in Mediterranean environment

“…Nevertheless, high levels of saponin are considered a major impediment to the diffusion of the crop (Bhargava et al, 2006) because they can affect the absorption and digestibility of nutrients (Maughan et al, 2004). Consequently, the development of varieties with low or no saponin is one of the important breeding objectives for quinoa (Spehar and Rocha, 2010).…”

Selection and recommend of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) genotypes based on the yield genotypic adaptability and stability

“…Thus, we can show that the effects of interaction G x E are the main responsible for the significance of the model. Also, the differentiated behavior of the genotypes in the different environmental conditions of the cultures were responsible for the observed differences, as already evidenced by Spehar & Rocha (2010).…”