Quinoa: Cultivation, Nutritional Properties and Effects on Health

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) is a pseudocereal of Andean origin that is becoming more and more popular also in Europe, Asia and the United States of America because is a good source of different nutrients, rich in antioxidants compounds and it offers an alternative to classical cereals in celiac diet because its seeds are gluten-free. Concerning its employment in food application, quinoa-derived products have been successfully employed in the preparation of different foods as fat/cream substitutes and to enhance the quality of baked foods. This book aims to review recent advances in the quinoa plant cultivation as well the nutritional properties and effects on human health of quinoa-derived products. Chapter 1 - In the last years consumers manifested a strong interest about quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd., 2n=4x=36 tetraploid). This species originating from south America owes its appeal to two main reasons: the well balanced aminoacidic composition of its around 13% of protein content and the absence of gluten. Such positive features, among many others, suggest quinoa as suitable aliment for celiac, vegan and it is strongly recommended for weaning. The skyrocketing request of such product and the limited production all over the world pushed up its price, suggesting also to our farmers such species as possible and more remunerative alternative to the conventional crops. For these reasons experiments to adapt such crop to the Italian agricultural system were planned and this paper reports results and ideas formulated on this field in ten years of observations. The activity performed spanned from the morphofenological evaluation of different accessions collected all over the world, but all originated from south America, to the evaluation of their agronomical performances both with experimental field trial both with open field test. A particular attention was devoted to the mechanization of the crop and the traits the plants need to show for that purpose. The strategies genetic research should adopt on this crop will be discussed. Chapter 2 - Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) is recognized for its nutritional quality, adaptation to marginal soils and extreme climates, and drought and salinity tolerances. These qualities make quinoa a valuable alternative crop for marginal lands in the Peruvian Coast. However, to achieve economic yield and quality, it is required to use adapted varieties to coastal conditions and know the duration of crops phase development and the cumulative growth degree-days (GDD) for each of them. This knowledge will improve the optimal scheduling of the planting date and the agronomic practices contributing to improve yield and quality. The study was made on three different growing seasons with a wide group of quinoa varieties, collected in different environments, in field conditions at the Peruvian central coast- La Molina. Germination, vegetative development, formation of side shoots (ramification) and inflorescence primordia, inflorescence development, flowering, anthesis, seed development, seed maturation and physiological maturity were described and variation among the genotypes of valley and altiplano ecotypes were observed. The total life cycle of the valley type and Altiplano type during season October 2007 March 2008 had a range of 83 to 190 days and 93 to 122 days; respectively. On season October 2011 - March 2012, the total life cycle of the valley type and Altiplano type had a range of 152 to 203 days and 97 to 176 days; respectively. On season June - December 2013, the total life cycle of the varieties required different GDD, in general associated with the life cycle. Chapter 3 - The changes in the antioxidative capacity and phenolic compounds content in the aerial part of the quinoa (Cheno