Inadequate Nitrogen Fertilization: Main Cause of the Low Seed Yield on the Chia Crop (Salvia Hispanica l.)

Abstract

Chia (Salvia Hispanica L.) is a Mexican ancestral crop that for its nutritional properties presents high demand in the international market, its growth rate is 239% annually and it is estimated that by 2020 its sales will be $ 1.2 billion dollars [1]. Since 1917, it has been reported that the maximum attainable seed yield (SY) on chia is close to 3.0 t ha-1 [2-5]; however, the SY that the farmers commonly achieve in commercial plots is lower, and on average it only is 0.36 t ha-1 [6]. According to [7], the low productivity on chia due to their agronomic management has not been modernized, and to this date it still is cultivated mainly on rainy season, and the use of fertilizers, pesticides and improved varieties is scarce. The plasticity of the chia to adapt and produce under a low-input systems has led erroneously to assume that it presents low requirements of water and fertilizer [8,9], and also it resists the attack of pests and diseases [10].