Preliminary Evaluation of New Quinoa Genotypes under Sandy Soil Conditions in Egypt

Field trial was carried out at Ismailia Research Station, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt to evaluate some quinoa genotypes under arid environment of sandy soil for identifying its agronomic potentiality, chemical composition and economic opportunity. Nine quinoa genotypes including six Peruvian varieties (Amarilla Marangani, Amarilla Sacaca, Blanca de Junin, Kancolla, Salcedo INIA and Rosada de Huancayo) and three new accessions (QS14, QS16 and QS17-2) were compared in randomized complete block design with three replications. The results revealed that quinoa proved success in sandy soil with suitable grain yield under Egyptian conditions. QS17-2 accession stays only from 115 to 120 days in the field according to environmental factors and treated as short duration accession, while growth duration of the four varieties; Blanca de Junin, Kancolla, Salcedo INIA and Rosada de Huancayo, as well as, accessions of QS14 and QS16 were moderate. Amarilla Marangani and Amarilla Sacaca varieties had the longest duration genotypes. Amarilla Sacaca and Amarilla Marangani varieties, as well as, QS17-2 accession gave the highest grain yield compared with the other genotypes. The highest protein content in quinoa grains was 13.60%, which recorded from QS17-2 accession, while the lowest value (10.75%) was recorded by Blanca de Junin variety. Moreover, Salcedo INIA variety had the lowest saponins content in quinoa grains (0.07%) while QS16 accession recorded the highest content (0.22%). The economic evaluation gave a clear indicator of the lower farm prices of quinoa grains in Egypt (US$ 1000/ton), which gives a comparative advantage to Egypt in the MENA region for quinoa exportation.


Introduction
Always, population growth requires an increase in the use of available environmental resources around the world. It is considerable pressure on available environmental resources especially water that is one of the major factors in arid and semiarid regions [1]. So, it is important to address our efforts to this fundamental issue by increasing food supply to face the highest population growth rates without any increase in the used water duty especially in the developing countries. According to FAO [2], there were around 799 million undernourished people in the developing countries. Recently, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) crop has attracted attention of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to fight hunger in the 21 st century because of its high nutritional value and extreme resistance to adverse environmental conditions.
From several decades, quinoa is a valuable source of protein in some parts of South America; it was cultivated and used by the Inca (ruling class) people since 5000 B.C. It is consumed in wide variety of forms i.e., grains, flakes, pasta, bread, biscuits, beverages, meals etc. Bolivia in South America is the biggest producer of quinoa with 46 percent of world production followed by Peru with 42 percent and United States of America with 6.3 percent. Quinoa is cultivated in the world with an area of 126 thousand ha with a production of 103 thousand ton [3]. Thus, it is likely to be exploited further in both developing and industrialised countries.
So, NASA [4] selected this crop as ideal candidate crop for the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). Quinoa can be used to produce gluten-free cereal-based products, and can thus be eaten by people who have celiac disease, as well as, by those who are allergic to wheat because of the absence of gluten proteins [5]. Quinoa have high protein values and essential amino acids including (lysine), fats, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals and as a gluten-free product [6]. Due to the high nutritional value of quinoa, it has been considered an exceptional crop with the potential of contributing to food security worldwide because of its genetic diversity and its great adaptability to stressful environments [7].
Although several cultivars of quinoa contain saponins act as antinutrients, frequently associated with lipids [8], some saponins can form insoluble complexes with minerals, such as zinc and iron, which make the minerals unavailable for absorption in the gut [9]. It is known that saponins in quinoa are basically glycosidic triterpenoids with glucose constitution about 80% of the weight [10] and concentrated in seed hull [11].
Therefore, several countries in all over the world started in the last years to promote researches for the development of quinoa cultivation; especially the genetic variability of quinoa is huge, with cultivars of quinoa being adapted to growth from sea level to an altitude of over 4000 meters and from cold, highland climates to subtropical conditions. This make it possible to select, adapt, and breed cultivars for a wide range of environmental conditions such as arid or "Technical assistance for the introduction of quinoa and appropriation/institutionalization of its production". However, the improvement of quinoa seed quality is challenging and key for food security and has been almost exclusively focused on generating hybrid varieties with lower saponin contents [14]. Accordingly, breeding programs in quinoa should be mainly focused on the generation of better environmentally adapted plants with higher protein and lower saponin contents to develop high-yielding varieties. Evaluation of new introduced accessions, varieties and new accessions resulted from natural crosses among various genotypes is an important target to release new varieties for Egyptian farmers. Hence, growing quinoa can save hard currency by replenishing part of food gap since the crop succeeded to grow economically in new reclaimed sandy soils of Egyptian deserts [15] [16]. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to evaluate some quinoa genotypes under arid environment of sandy soil for identifying its agronomic potentiality, chemical composition and economic opportunity.

Materials and Methods
Field trial was carried out at Ismailia Agricultural Research Station, Ismailia Governorate (Lat. 30˚35'30''N, Long. 32˚14'50''E, 10 m above the sea level), Egypt during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 winter seasons to evaluate some quinoa genotypes under arid environment of sandy soil for identifying its agronomic potentiality, chemical composition and economic opportunity. Nine quinoa genotypes including six Peruvian varieties (Amarilla Marangani, Amarilla Sacaca, Blanca de Junin, Kancolla, Salcedo INIA and Rosada de Huancayo) and three new accessions (QS14, QS16 and QS17-2) were compared in randomized complete block design with three replications. Table 1 shows origin and grain color of the nine quinoa genotypes used in the trial. was applied at the rate of 214.2 Kg N/ha in five split equal doses, the first after two weeks from planting date and the other doses every two weeks. Table 2 shows Meteorological information data of Ismailia governorate (October-May) in the two growing seasons.
Mechanical and chemical analyses of the soil (0 -30 cm) were done by Water, Soil and Environment Research Institute, ARC (Table 3) according to Jackson [17] and Chapman and Pratt [18]. The experimental soil had 12.65 percent clay, 2.40 percent silt and 84.95 percent sand, and loamy sand texture.

1) Growth duration
As a result of different agro-ecological extremes (soils, rainfall, temperatures, and altitude) within the areas of origin, quinoa shows a broad genetic diversity and can be divided into five ecotypes highly adapted to specific environments, being tolerant against various abiotic stress factors (frost, drought, and salinity) [22]. Results in Figure 1 show that the QS17-2 accession stays only from 115 to 120 days in the field and treated as short duration accession, while, varieties of  (Table 2 and Table 3) had a major role in growth duration of the studied quinoa genotypes that is a predominantly self-pollinating species indicating considerable variation exists among the genotypes for many of the desired characters. It seems that temperature, relative humidity and rain played a major role in maturity stage of quinoa where the tested quinoa genotypes reached maturity stage  earlier in the second season than the first one. Certainly, the sensitivity against photoperiod is the most important factor in creating new varieties adapted to higher latitudes [23].

2) Grain yield and its attributes
Results in Table 4  Also, data in Table 4 show that the highest values of 1000-grain weight were  Accordingly, these results reveal that quinoa proved success in desert lands with suitable grain yield. Similar results were obtained by Zuniga et al. [25] who evaluated the productivity of Amarilla Sacaca and Amarilla Marangani varieties and they found that the both varieties produced more than 2.3 ton/ha with the ton/ha. Moreover, these results are in accordance with those obtained by Shams [27].

3) Chemical composition
Data in Table 5 reveal that the maximum protein content in quinoa grains were recorded with QS17-2 (13.77% in the first season and 13.43% in the second one), QS16 (12.88% in the first season and 12.76% in the second one) and Rosada de Huancayo (12.38% in the first season and 12.22% in the second one), meanwhile the lowest protein contend was recorded by Blanca de Junin variety (10.83% in the first season and 10.67% in the second one). These findings are parallel with those obtained by Huaringa [26] who showed that the protein content in Salcedo INIA was higher than those in Kancolla and Amarilla Marangani, respectively. It is known that the nutritional properties, especially the high protein contents or rather the well-balanced composition of proteogenic amino acids, are two of the most promising features of quinoa [28].  in quinoa seeds during the growth and development stages; and this effect was increased or decreased according to quinoa genotype that grown under sandy soil conditions, therefore deficit irrigation can be used as sustainable practice to reduce saponin levels in quinoa seeds [29]. It seems that quinoa genotypes QS17-2, QS16 and Rosada de Huancayo regulate the production of bioactive compounds more than the rest genotypes, influencing its nutritional and industrial values.

4) Economic evaluation
Data in Table 6 indicate clearly that production costs for quinoa and wheat did not exceed the one thousand US$/ha including land rent.
Amarilla Sacaca variety gave the highest net return of US$ 1509 in local market followed by QS17-2 accession and Amarilla Marangani variety, while wheat gave the lowest total income and net return (Table 7). Table 6. Average costs of production per hectare for quinoa compared with wheatcrop (US$ * /ha).

Item with Description Quinoa Wheat
Land preparation (Plowingtwo times) 24 12 Seeds cost (10 Kg of quinoa and 71 kg of wheat) 10 19 Sowing (   packaging. These results are in agreement with those recorded by Jacobsen [12] who reported that the economic result for the farmer depends on the yield and the price to be achieved for the crop and add that any improved result will be obtained with either an increased yield or a higher price. Also, Shams [16] found that quinoa can be grown under harsh conditions of sandy soils, arid environment.