<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Quinoa (<italic>Chenopodium quinoa</italic> Will.) is an annual herbaceous Andean plant. In recent years there is a growing interest on it due to its high quality as food, its wide adaptation to agroecological conditions and resistance to different abiotic stresses. In this work, we evaluate the growth pattern of quinoa plants cv. ‘Titicaca’, subjected to different levels of salinity, focusing on leaf production and nutrient content. In this sense, the results have shown that a high concentration of salinity negatively affects the growth of quinoa plants. In fact, plants grown with 200 mM NaCl reduced the photosynthetic rate and levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids in comparison with the rest of the treatments. Likewise, it has been proven how the progressive increase in salinity has negative effects on transpiration, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate, with significant subsequent reductions in shoot biomass, leaf area and nutrient adquisition, but without a decline in leaf dry weight (DW) production. However, the treatment of 200 mM NaCl demonstrated the best results regarding the water-use efficiency, as well as the number of saline glands. According to our results, the quinoa plant cv. ‘Titicaca’ seems to be tolerant to moderate concentrations of salinity (50–100 mM NaCl). This study could serve as a reference on this little known and cultivated species in the Mediterranean region, since it could become an alternative crop in areas with moderate salinity problems.</p>
</abstract>

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Will.) is an annual herbaceous Andean plant. In recent years there is a growing interest on it due to its high quality as food, its wide adaptation to agroecological conditions and resistance to different abiotic stresses. In this work, we evaluate the growth pattern of quinoa plants cv. ‘Titicaca’, subjected to different levels of salinity, focusing on leaf production and nutrient content. In this sense, the results have shown that a high concentration of salinity negatively affects the growth of quinoa plants. In fact, plants grown with 200 mM NaCl reduced the photosynthetic rate and levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids in comparison with the rest of the treatments. Likewise, it has been proven how the progressive increase in salinity has negative effects on transpiration, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate, with significant subsequent reductions in shoot biomass, leaf area and nutrient adquisition, but without a decline in leaf dry weight (DW) production. However, the treatment of 200 mM NaCl demonstrated the best results regarding the water-use efficiency, as well as the number of saline glands. According to our results, the quinoa plant cv. ‘Titicaca’ seems to be tolerant to moderate concentrations of salinity (50–100 mM NaCl). This study could serve as a reference on this little known and cultivated species in the Mediterranean region, since it could become an alternative crop in areas with moderate salinity problems.

Sensitivity of quinoa cv. ‘Titicaca’ to low salinity conditions

Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences

Folia Horticulturae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Sensitivity of quinoa cv. \u2018Titicaca\u2019 to low salinity conditions"}

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Will.) is an annual herbaceous Andean plant. In recent years there is a growing interest on it due to its high quality as food, its...

Sensitivity of quinoa cv. ‘Titicaca’ to low salinity conditions

Article Category: Original Article

Publié en ligne: 26 avr. 2021

Pages: 135 - 145

Reçu: 21 déc. 2020

Accepté: 15 mars 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fhort-2021-0010

Mots clés
biomass production, photosynthetic rate, salt glands, salt stress, water use efficiency

© 2021 María del Carmen Rodríguez-Hernández et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Sensitivity of quinoa cv. ‘Titicaca’ to low salinity conditions

Article Category: Original Article

Publié en ligne: 26 avr. 2021

Pages: 135 - 145

Reçu: 21 déc. 2020

Accepté: 15 mars 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fhort-2021-0010

Mots clésbiomass production, photosynthetic rate, salt glands, salt stress, water use efficiency

© 2021 María del Carmen Rodríguez-Hernández et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
biomass production, photosynthetic rate, salt glands, salt stress, water use efficiency