Yield Component of Amaranth (Amaranthus spp ... - Tropentag

Tropentag 2007University of Kassel-Witzenhausen andUniversity of Göttingen, October 9-11, 2007Conference on International Agricultural Research for DevelopmentYield component of Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) grown under Northern Thailandirrigated areaSa-nguansak Thanapornpoonpong a , Wiwat Somsak a , Elke Pawelzik b and Suchada Vearasilp a*a Chiang Mai University, Department of Agronomy, Thailandb Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Department of Crop Sciences, Quality of Plant Products, GermanyIntroductionGrain amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) is protein-rich pseudocereal. It has been received the attentionby many researchers due to the valuable sources of protein and amino acids which are deficient inother cereals (AHAMED ET AL., 1998). It is also used for the production of healthy food in severalworld regions (NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, 1989). The amino acid composition of theirproteins corresponds to the FAO standards for human nutrition. Their lysine and phenylalanineperform better profile than other cereals such as wheat, maize and oat. Their unsaturated fattyacid compositions and content are in balanced spectrum. In addition, it is also contained highcrude fiber content (THANAPORNPOONPONG, 2004). The plant height of amaranth are variedbetween 0.5 to 3 m. Their total biomass are varied between 720 to 1320 g m -2 and obtain 140 to300 g m -2 grain. The harvest indexes (HI) is ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 (AUFHAMMER ET AL., 1995,SPEHAR ET AL., 1998). It can grow well even under unfavorable environmental conditions. InChina, India and Nepal cultivation trials have been undertaken (BERGHOFER AND SCHOENLECHNER,2002). Effects of environmental conditions on yield have been reported (HENDERSON ET AL.,2000). The semidwarf cultivar ‘K432’ produced low grain yield in dry environments but thehighest grain yield under cool and moist conditions is obtained. However, information about thegrowing factors influence to the yield performance in Thailand is very rare. The aim of this studywas to evaluate the possibility to produce amaranth seeds under the climatic condition ofNorthern Thailand.Material and methodsThis experiment was carried out at Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Maiuniversity, Chiang Mai, Thailand, from November 2006 to March 2007. Randomized completeblock design (RCB) with three replications was used. Eight varieties of grain amaranth as follow:“K266”, “Dobos”, “Bärnkraft”, “AMR”, Rawa”, “K432”, “K283” and “Pastevny” werecultivated with the plot size of 15 m 2 per each variety. Pre-planting fertilizer was used at the ratesof 30 kg N ha -1 and top dressing with 30 kg N ha -1 at the flowering stage. Carbosulfan was usedfor insect control. Weed was controlled by hands. Water was sprinkled every three days. Cropdensity management was done by rouging after 14 days of emergence to 20 plants m −1 . Plantheight was measured at the maturity stage. The periods of vegetative growth and reproductivegrowth were recorded._______________________* Corresponding author. Email: suchada@chiangmai.ac.th1

After harvest, grain yield, plant dry weight, thousand-kernel weight and harvest index weredetermined. Weight measurement was adjusted to 11 % moisture content. Analysis of variancewas done according to ANOVA. The means were compared by using least significance differencetest (LSD0.05).Results and DiscussionIn the initial step of investigation, significant differences growth periods between cultivars weredetermined (Figure 1). When compared the vegetative growth periods of all varieties, it wasfound that the amaranth variety “K432” and “Pastevny” had shorter vegetative growth periodsthan the other varieties (23 and 22 days, respectively). It showed that both varieties had earlyflowering and this cause affected to impediment plant growth and lower grain yields finally(Figure 2 and Table 1). All varieties were harvested according to their maturity 90 to 101 daysafter germination (DAG). The “Pastevny” variety was harvested earlier than the other varieties(90 DAG). The other varieties showed no significantly difference in harvest periods.K2663958Dobos4851Bärnkraft4952VarietyAMRRawa48485351Vegetative stageReproductive stageK4322374K2834456Pastevny2268Figure 1: Growth periods of grain amaranth varieties0 20 40 60 80 100Days after germination (days)For plant height, the variety “Dobos”, “K432” and “Pastevny” were significantly different butmean of them are lower than plant height of other varieties (Figure 2 and Table 1). Although,“Dobos” variety had longer vegetative growth period than “K432” and “Pastevny” variety, butthey showed poor vegetative growth. This result presented that “Dobos”, “K432” and “Pastevny”variety do not seem suitable for cultivation under Northern Thailand climatic conditions.120Plant height (cm)100806040200K266DobosBärnkraftAMRRawaK432K283Pastevny7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84Days after germination (days)Figure 2: Plant height of grain amaranth2

Table 1: Plant height, grain yield, plant dry weight, thousand-seed weight (TSW) and HI of grainamaranthVarietiesPlant height Plant dry Grain yield TSW HI(cm) weight (g) (g plant -1 ) (g)K266DobosBärnkraftAMRRawaK432K283Pastevny84.8 a47.6 b96.6 a101.8 a87.8 a38.0 b85.5 a51.9 b19.1 a7.6 bc18.0 a12.1 abc16.1 ab7.2 c17.8 a4.5 c5.05 a1.90 cd5.95 a3.86 abc4.13 ab2.28 bcd3.97 abc1.05 d0.701.070.850.940.850.840.710.850.27 ab0.24 b0.34 a0.32 a0.27 ab0.32 a0.22 b0.24 bLSD 0.05 21.6 8.52 2.23 - 0.08The values of mean which are following by the same letter had p>0.05, and therefore, theywere not characterized as significantly differentPlant growth rate of most varieties had increased after 56 DAG. Amaranth “K266”, “Bärnkraft”and “K283” variety produced significantly plant dry weight which higher than “Dobos”, “K432”and “Pastevny” varieties (Table 1 and Figure 3). Furthermore, the grain yield of “K266” and“Bärnkraft” variety were also significant and it higher than “Dobos”, “K432” and “Pastevny”varieties. These results showed the significantly positive correlations between plant height, grainyield and plant dry weight (Table 2)20Plant dry weight (g)15105K266DobosBärnkraftAMRRawaK432K283Pastevny014 28 42 56 70 84Days after germination (days)Figure 3: Plant dry weight accumulation of grain amaranthTable 2: Correlations between plant height, plant dry weight, grain yield, HI and TSW of grainamaranthPlant height Plant dry weight Grain yield Harvest IndexPlant dry weight 0.70 **Grain yield 0.77 ** 0.93 **Harvest Index 0.25 0.00 0.34TSW -0.26 -0.41 * -0.32 0.13* Significant at the 0.05 probability level** Significant at the 0.01 probability level3

The TSW was varies in the range from 0.70 to 1.07g and no significant differences wereobserved. This study was given that TSW had significantly correlated with plant dry weight. ForHI, it was varied between 0.22 to 0.34. The amaranth “AMR”, “Bärnkraft” and “K432” varietieshad significantly higher HI than “Dobos”, “K283” and “Pastevny” varieties (Table 1). However,the vegetative growth period of variety “K432” was shorter than the others, then it should bedeselected from the future investigation.From all data of this study, amaranth variety “AMR” and “Bärnkraft” were interested varieties,because, they showed good agronomic characteristics and higher grain yield and HI than theother varieties. When compared agronomic characteristics with the previous yield trail reportedby THANAPORNPOONPONG (2004) who grew the “Bärnkraft” variety in northern Germany, and thestudy was found the similar result in plant height (96.6 and 95.0 cm., respectively), grain yield(5.95 and 5.78 g plant -1 ). However, they showed higher HI (0.34 and 0.21, respectively) and thegrowth period of amaranth grown in Germany are longer than its grown in this study (107 and101 DAG, respectively).Conclusions and OutlookThe grain amaranth showed good agronomic and yield potential. Five varieties of grain amaranth(“AMR”, “Bärnkraft”, “K266”, “K283”, “Rawa”) were selected for using in the future research.The plant population density and various cultural practices will be investigated subsequently.This study can be concluded that the grain amaranth has well performances to produce underNorthern Thailand irrigated area.AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by Postharvest Technology Institute, Chiang Mai University. Anactivity of this research is subject related partnership between the University of Goettingen andChiang Mai University in the area of academic collaboration in teaching and research.ReferencesAHAMED, N.T., SINGHAL, R.S., KULKARNI, P.R., PAL, M. (1998). A lesser-known grain, Chenopodiumquinoa: Review of the chemical composition of its edible parts. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 19: 61-70.AUFHAMMER, W., KAUL, H. P., HERZ, P., NALBOREZYK, E., DALBIAK, A., GONTARCZYK M. (1995).Grain yield formation and nitrogen uptake of amaranth. European Journal of Agronomy 4: 379-386.BERGHOFER, E., SCHOENLECHNER, R. (2002). Grain amaranth. In: Belton, P.S., Taylor, J.R.N. (Eds.),Pseudocereals and less common cereals., 219-260; Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany.HENDERSON, T. L., JOHNSON, B. L. and SCHNEITER, A. A. (2000). Row spacing, plant population, andcultivar effects on grain amaranth in the northern great plains. Agronomy Journal 92: 329-336.NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL. (1989). Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes withPromise for Worldwide Cultivation. National Academy Press, Washington, D. C.SPEHAR, C. R., SANTOS, R. L. B. and JACOBSEN, S. E. (1998). Andean grain crop introduction to theBrazilian Savannah. In: International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture on Tropical andSubtropical Highlands with Special Reference to Latin America, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.THANAPORNPOONPONG, S. (2004). Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen assimilation and seed qualityof amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd). Dissertation. Fakultät fürAgrarwissenschaften, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany.http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/diss/2004/thanapornpoonpong/thanapornpoonpong.pdf4