Quinoa – A Functional Food Crop: Morphological Descriptors

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), one of the oldest cultivated plants of Andes, has gained worldwide attention for its ability to grow in various stressful conditions and also due to its various health-promoting characteristics i.e., easily digestibility with high amounts of protein, vitamin B, omega-3 fatty acids, and others. To study (in detail) on morphological descriptors of four quinoa genotypes, an experiment was conducted at the Field and Laboratory of Plant Systematics, Department of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University during Rabi season (November 2020 to March 2021) following a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. A spacing of 25 cm x 10 cm was used. Weeding and irrigation operations were done twice at 20 and 40 days after sowing. Quinoa plants are characterized by the angular stem, red-green, leaf rhomboidal, green, panicle shape intermediate showing both shapes – glomerulate and amarantiform, panicle green at the flowering and became pink at the physiological maturity stages. Plant height and stem diameter were ranged between 60.17-65.65 cm and 4.22-4.58 mm, respectively. The percentage of red and red-green coloured stem, number of teeth leaf–1 and leaf area were significantly influenced by genotypes and ranged between 20.00-46.58%, 53.31-80.00%, 5.60-9.10 and 4.84-6.01 cm2, respectively. Pollen grains are monads, medium in size, 42.99-51.30 µm, polypantoporate, scabrate (microechinate), and exine thickness 2.08-2.40 µm. Panicle length and width, 1000-seed weight and seed yield varied between 31.16-37.23 cm, 3.66-4.37 cm, 3.14-3.43 g and 2.66-3.86 g plant–1, respectively. Among the genotypes, G2 was most productive in the environmental conditions of Mymensingh region. Qualitative morphological traits can be used as markers in the description and characterization of quinoa genotypes. The variation existing among the quinoa genotypes could prove useful in the breeding programs.