Study on the social, environmental and economic impacts of quinoa ...

egions themselves, and of material originating from other countries. This work was carried
out year after year, becoming increasingly rigorous in terms of the prioritisation of the material
evaluated. The most noteworthy work carried out is indicated below.
In the year 1981-1982 the first yield tests commenced on the crossings done at the start of
the Project; it was observed that many strains produced 30% more than the control varieties
“Sajama” and “Belén”, at the Patacamaya and Belén Experimental Stations, respectively; they
also displayed characteristics of sweet large grain and other favourable agronomic
characteristics. The introduction of superior varieties in the short term was thus assured.
The yield components were also studied by means of an evaluation of 36 accessions of the
germplasm collection. It was determined that yield is associated with the height of the plant (r
= 0.45), the length of the ear (r = 0.66) and the diameter of the stork (r = 0.54). The analyses
of cause and effect made it possible to determine that the length of the ear and the diameter
of the stalk have a notable direct effect, the values having reached 59 and 38 percent,
respectively, followed by the weight of 100 grams which amounted to 12.58 percent.
In the year 1987-1988, tolerance to frost by the Creole varieties was evaluated, these
varieties having withstood frosts of up to -7ºC. However, in the year 1988-1989, in another
study on tolerance to frosts, exceptional tolerance of quinoa to low temperatures was
determined, with seedlings withstanding -12ºC, flowering 7.8ºC and grain ripeness -10.4ºC,
though in the latter case with a physiological reaction of reabsorption of grain in formation.
In the year 1997-1998, under the management conditions of the farmer, an evaluation was
carried out on the agronomic performance of 7 precocious strains in three localities of the
Northern Altiplano, in addition to determining their range of adaptation in terms of their
precociousness and grain quality. On average for the three localities the Sayaña variety and
the 26(85)DD strain were those which showed the best performance.
For the purpose of having material resistant to drought, in the year 1998-1999, the selection
of gene types took place at the Experimental Stations of Belén and Choquenaira, 18 selected
accessions and varieties originating from research programmes of the Andean Area and
Europe, having been evaluated. The evaluation took place in irrigated and non-irrigated
conditions. The results of the localities of Belén show that in general terms the varieties of
Peru displayed the best yield, while the varieties selected in Europe recorded a lower output;
finally, the varieties from Bolivia fall between the indicated limits of higher and lower yield.
With the implementation of the PREDUZA project, in the year 1998-1999 in the locality of
Choquenaira (Northern Altiplano), a total of 950 accessions from the germplasm collection
were evaluated, for the purpose of identifying partial resistance to the mildew disease
(Peronnospora farinosa). 90 accessions were selected having characteristics of resistance to
mildew, from which 291 individual plants were selected. Meanwhile, in the locality of Belén,
based on the same 950 accessions, 60 accessions were selected with a total of 198
individual plants. The large quantity of selections was subsequently reduced, based on the
characteristics of the grain.
In the year 1999-2000, a regional survey of advanced strains resistant to mildew was carried
out, which consisted in the evaluation of 9 strains selected due to their partial resistance to
the disease, which was replicated in two localities of the Northern Altiplano of Bolivia. The
variables evaluated were incidence and severity as well as certain variables of an agronomic
type, such as precociousness, harvesting rate, weight in hectolitres, size of grain and yield.
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