Quinoa: A New Crop for Harsh Environments

Abstract

Extraordinary adaptations of quinoa caused expansion into different geographic areas with different soil and climate conditions. Water scarcity, soil salinity, and low water quality are main reasons of low food production in the Middle East and North Africa region. Quinoa was considered for food production using saline water and soil in this region. Field experiments in saline area of Iran showed that quinoa (Titicaca cv.) could produce 2.4 t ha−1 seed yield in 14 dS/m saline water and 2.3–3 t ha−1 in 20 dS/m saline water in Turkey and Morocco. Almost 7–10 t ha−1 seed yield was obtained with 16–18 dS/m saline water in UAE. Among the genotype, Titicaca had high yield stability in different climate conditions. The studies in the region showed that quinoa has high adaptation to the agroclimatic conditions and, therefore, has excellent potential as an alternative crop to rehabilitate salt-affected farms which have become uneconomical for the cultivation of the traditionally grown crops. All countries in the region worked on adaptability and agronomic practices. Scaling up the project needs agro-climatologically zoning and selecting appropriate areas with saline water and soil, which are not suitable for conventional crop production and seed processing, marketing, mechanization, and national government policy, for quinoa extension.