Determination of forage yield performance of different Chenopodium quinoa cultivars in saline conditions

Abstract

Species selection is important in bringing the saline-alkaline areas to production. In addition, the determination of suitable cultivars with a high salt tolerance percentage for different ecological conditions is of great importance in terms of providing high yield per unit area. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted to determine the forage yield performance of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Wild.) cultivars in non-saline and saline-alkaline soils in 2021 and 2022. The effect of non-saline and saline-alkaline soils conditions on the forage yield and yield components of 7 quinoa cultivars: ‘Red Head’, ‘Moqu Arrochilla’, ‘Sandoval Mix’, ‘Oro de Valle’, ‘Titicaca’, ‘French Vanilla’, and ‘Rainbow’, was investigated. During the experiment, the plant height, stem diameter, fresh forage yield, dry matter ratio, dry matter yield, leaf ratio, stem ratio, panicle ratio, chlorophyll content, and the salt tolerance percentage of quinoa cultivars were determined. Compared to the non-saline soil conditions (control), the plant height, fresh forage yield, dry matter ratio, dry matter yield, and the cluster ratio of plants grown in salinealkaline soils increased, while the leaf ratio, stem ratio, and chlorophyll content decreased. It was determined that quinoa can be grown in high saline-alkaline soils without any loss in forage yield (except ‘Titicaca’).