Effect of temperature on the germination of different varieties of ?quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Abstract

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) exhibits low germination percentages in the field. Although diverse authors related these low values to chemical and/or climatic conditions in mountain areas, these hypothesis were never tested. In this sense, in this paper the effect of temperature on germination in four varieties of Ch. quinoa were studied. Furthermore, a great number of abnormal germination was recorded above or below the optimum temperature. Our data and others obtained by González and Prado (1992) allows us to conclude that in absence of water stress, quinoa present a low germination by the effect of oscillation temperature and the combination of low/high temperature with sodium.Thus, the zoning of the land used for quinoa growing considering these two factors in advisable, as a complement to variety improvement.