Quinoa
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an ancient crop from South and Central America, generally grown at high altitudes for human consumption.
Uses include compounding in livestock rations or in industrial products, such as textiles, paper and cosmetics. It has an unusually small starch granule size and recently the starch processing industry has become interested in the properties of quinoa as a raw material for special outlets. At present the product prices make profitable production of quinoa unlikely for this purpose, however, if the yield of quinoa can be increased it may become of more interest.
Quinoa is an annual plant species, sown in April/May and harvested in September/ October. World production of Quinoa towards the end of the 1990s was nearly 80,000ha, the majority of which was produced in South America. In Europe seed yields reach around 3.5-4t/ha.
Quinoa responds well to nitrogen fertiliser. Trials conducted in America over three years found maximum yields were obtained from applications of 170 to 200kg nitrogen/ha. Yields declined when greater levels of nitrogen were available due to lodging and slower maturity. There was no effect on yield from applications of phosphate.
