Effect of sowing density on the agronomic performance of Quinoa Nariño cultivar and the transmissivity of photosynthetically active radiation in the high tropics of Colombia

Abstract

Quinoa is a promissory crop in the Andean region, on average, grain yield was 1.62 t ha-1 with nearly 2,000 t in the year 2017. This study examined the response of quinoa to the radiation transmission, growth, and development of the crop in different stages, under three planting densities in order todetermine the differential responses and identify which aspects are determinants in the planting and development process and crop yield. For the present experiment, quinoa was sowed in three differentdensities: D1 65,500, D2 83,333, and D3 156,250 plants per ha. This study measured the percentage of canopy PAR transmission, distribution of matter on root, stem, leaf, and panicle, leaf development in leaf area and leaf area index, yield components, weight of 1,000 grains, and harvest index. The results showed that sowing density had no impact on PAR transmission, lower sowing densities obtained the best dry weight of panicle at the end of the production cycle, better yields, and best grain weight. To conclude, the sowing density affects different yield components, while all of them allow theplant to generate the best response within the production cycle.