Afrosymetric method for quantifying saponins in Chenopodium Quinoa Willd. from Colombia

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a pseudocereal that, in addition to presenting good nutritional characteristics in the grain, has secondary metabolites in the episperm of the seeds and, within them, saponins. Saponins are characterized by being emulsifying, foaming and generating a bitter taste. This metabolite has not been completely studied in quinoa materials from Colombia. For this reason, the objective of this research was to quantify the content of saponins present in quinoa materials from the department of Boyacá using three afrosimetric methods. For this, a completely randomized design (CRD) was implemented with a factorial arrangement of 3 (afrosimetric methods) x 5 (quinoa materials). From the quantification of saponins, it was determined that the Amarilla de maranganí genotype, was the one that presented the highest content in all the evaluated methods; the standard afrosimetric method being the most efficient. Finally, the conglomerate analysis allowed to discriminate the materials in sweet quinoas such as Tunkahuan and Blanca de Jericó with saponin contents lower than 0.06%, and in bitter quinoas (Negra de la Colorada, Dorada and Amarilla de Maranganí) with contents higher than 0.11%. The biochemical characterization of the germplasm will allow a selection of genotypes suitable for consumption and for the industry, given the potential use that saponins currently have.