Quinoa Vikinga Response to Salt and Drought Stress under Field Conditions in Italy

Agriculture in south Europe is facing the negative effect of abiotic stresses such as salinity that mostly affect the seed production and seed quality of traditional crops. Under these conditions, quinoa represent a good alternative to ensure the production of high-protein-quality seeds thanks to its tolerance to abiotic stresses. In 2015-2017, a sweet variety of quinoa, "Vikinga", was tested in Italy within the PROTEIN2FOOD project (EU Horizon2020) as high-quality-protein crop to enhance food protein production in Europe. A field trial was carried out at the experimental farm of CNR-ISAFOM in South Italy, to evaluate the combined effect of drought and salinity on quinoa Vikinga; both freshwater and saline water were used for irrigation. The plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design. The main yield parameters (seed yield, aboveground dry biomass 1000 seed weight), the protein content and other quality traits were analyzed at harvest, to evaluate the effect of applied treatments. The results showed that, in general, different treatments did not affect the main production and quality traits of quinoa "Vikinga".