Phenotypic Differentiation Between Highland and Coastal Quinoa Under Cold Stress Conditions

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Plant Breeding
• Climate Adaptation

Background:

• Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a nutritious Andean crop adaptable to diverse climates, including marginal European lands.
• Cold stress during early sowing impacts quinoa germination and maturation, posing challenges for cultivation in cooler regions.
• Understanding ecotype-specific responses to low temperatures is crucial for optimizing quinoa cultivation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the adaptation of quinoa to cold stress by assessing germination and phenotypic variation.
• To compare the performance of highland and coastal quinoa ecotypes across different sowing dates in South-Western Germany.
• To investigate the potential for breeding cold-resilient quinoa varieties.

Main Methods:

• Field experiments with 60 quinoa accessions across three sowing dates (late winter, early spring, spring).
• Laboratory germination tests under cold (4.4°C) and control (18.3°C) conditions.
• Automated seedling growth analysis using Mask R Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) and manual scoring.

Main Results:

• Early sowing (late winter) under low temperatures delayed emergence but resulted in the highest seed yield (64g/plot).
• Highland accessions exhibited superior germination and emergence percentages under cold conditions.
• Coastal ecotypes showed earlier maturation and higher yields, while highland types performed better in germination.

Conclusions:

• Quinoa demonstrates resilience to cold stress, particularly highland ecotypes with enhanced germination traits.
• Early sowing strategies can maximize quinoa yield in cold-climatic regions despite initial emergence delays.
• Breeding programs combining high-yield coastal traits with highland cold-tolerance offer a promising strategy for developing improved quinoa varieties for colder regions.