Agro-morphological and biochemical responses of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd. var: ICBA-Q5) to organic amendments under various salinity conditions

Ayoub El Mouttaqi; Talal Sabraoui; Mohamed Belcaid; Mohamed Ibourki; Ihssane Mnaouer; Karima Lazaar; Faissal Sehbaoui; Reda Ait Elhaj; Manal Khaldi; Sifeddine Rafik; Jamaâ Zim; Abdelaziz Nilahyane; Cherki Ghoulam; Krishna Prasad Devkota; Lamfeddal Kouisni; Abdelaziz Hirich

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1143170

Agro-morphological and biochemical responses of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd. var: ICBA-Q5) to organic amendments under various salinity conditions

Front Plant Sci. 2023 May 8:14:1143170. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1143170. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ayoub El Mouttaqi¹, Talal Sabraoui¹, Mohamed Belcaid¹, Mohamed Ibourki¹, Ihssane Mnaouer¹, Karima Lazaar¹, Faissal Sehbaoui², Reda Ait Elhaj², Manal Khaldi², Sifeddine Rafik³, Jamaâ Zim⁴, Abdelaziz Nilahyane¹, Cherki Ghoulam^{5

6}, Krishna Prasad Devkota^{1

7}, Lamfeddal Kouisni¹, Abdelaziz Hirich¹

Affiliations

¹ Agriculure in Marginal Environment Program, African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Laayoune, Morocco.
² Agri-Edge, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Benguerir, Morocco.
³ Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
⁴ Department of Plant Protection, Agronomic and Veterinary Institute Hassan II, Agadir, Morocco.
⁵ AgroBioSciences Program, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco.
⁶ Agrobiotechnology & Bioengineering Centre, Cadi Ayyad University, FST, Marrakech, Morocco.
⁷ Soil, Water, and Agronomy (SWA) Program, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Rabat, Morocco.

Abstract

In the Sahara Desert, due to drought and salinity and poor soil fertility, very limited crop choice is available for the farmers to grow crops. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) has shown promising under such conditions in the South of Morocco, a true representative site of Sahara Desert. Soil organic amendments have the potential to minimize negative effects of soil salinity and improve crop production. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the impact of nine organic amendments on quinoa (var. ICBA-Q5) growth, productivity, and biochemical parameters under saline irrigation water application (4, 12, and 20 dS·m^-1). Results of the experiment indicate a significant effect of organic amendments on major agro-morphological and productivity parameters. Biomass and seed yield tends to decrease with the rise of salinity level, and organic amendments have improved productivity compared to the non-treated control. However, salinity stress alleviation was assessed by determining pigments concentration, proline content, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity. Therefore, the action of organic amendments varies from one level of salinity to another. Furthermore, a remarkably significant decrease in total saponin content was reached due to the application of amendments even at high saline conditions (20 dS·m^-1). The results demonstrate the possibility of enhancing the productivity of quinoa as an alternative food crop under salinity conditions by using organic amendments and improving the quality of grains (saponin reduction) during the pre-industrialization process.

Keywords: growth; organic amendment; osmotic stress; quinoa; saponin; seed yield.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Professional Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research within the ERA-Net Cofund on Food Systems and Climate, SALAD project under the contract number 5.