1 IMPROVEMENT OF QUINOA (Chenopodium quinoa Wild.) AND QAÑAWA 2 (Chenopdium pallidicaule Aellen) IN A CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN 3 THE HIGH ANDES 4 5 Alejandro Bonifacio1 6 7 1 Fundación PROINPA, La Paz, Bolivia. [email protected] 8 9 Abstract 10 Quinoa and qañawa are the only native crops that produce food grain in the high Andes. 11 The improvement of quinoa has been addressed by government institutions, universities 12 and NGOs, obtaining improved varieties. However, qañawa has received little or no 13 attention in development of varieties and only has native varieties and revalued varieties. 14 The native and improved varieties of quinoa have contributed to food production for rural 15 families and also for export, generating significant economic income. In recent decades, 16 the production of these grains is being negatively affected by effects of climate change. 17 In the high Andes, climatic variability together with climate change is disturbing the 18 regime of climatic factors with evident changes represented by drought, frost, hail and 19 wind. The objective of this paper is to describe the context under climate change, followed 20 by a review of the progress in the improvement of quinoa and qañawa and then propose 21 some adjustments to improvement methods for the high Andes. The genetic methods and 22 materials used in the improvement of quinoa have allowed to obtain varieties with 23 characters prioritized for the last decades, which met and continue to fulfill their role in 24 food production and income generation for producers. However, in the face of the effects 25 of climate change, some varieties are becoming unfitted, especially those of long cycle. 26 Therefore, it has been proposed to include new breeding objectives as well as new genetic 27 materials for improvement, new sources of characters and suggesting some improvement 28 methods in the context of climate change. 29 30 Keywords: Improvement, quinoa, qañawa, climate change 31 32 33 34 1 35 1. Introduction 36 37 The Andes is an area where crops that produce grains, tubers and food roots have been 38 domesticated and developed for the inhabitants of this area. In the high part of the Andes 39 (high Andes), that is to say between 3800 and 4500 m.s.l, the main producing grain crops 40 are quinoa and qañawa. These crops were domesticated, conserved and used by men and 41 women of the predecessor civilizations such as Tiahauancota and Incaica. Subsequently, 42 these genetic resources were taken advantage of by contemporary generations. 43 44 Until the 1980s, quinoa and qañawa were produced for the subsistence of rural families 45 and for local market. Since the 90s, thanks to the discovery of its outstanding nutritional 46 properties and the promotion of its consumption, quinoa has entered the national and 47 export markets, reaching the highest demand between 2013 and 2014. According to 48 Montero and Romero (2017), in 1998 the world production of quinoa was 49,400 t, of 49 which 20,921 t produced Bolivia and 28,171 t Peru; for 2016 world production reached 50 148,720 t where Bolivia participated with 65,548 t and Peru with 79,269 t. The reports 51 show an increase in quinoa production by 200% over a period of 15 years. 52 53 The demand for quinoa in the market has led to increased production mainly based on the 54 expansion of the area under cultivation, reaching in some areas to become a monoculture 55 of quinoa with the negative consequences for the sustainable production of quinoa (Risi, 56 Rojas & Pacheco, 2015). 57 58 The qañawa has not had the same demand in the market, so production continues to be 59 on a smaller scale, although there is some increase in the acceptance of the product in the 60 local market and in the export market. 61 62 As the international market for quinoa increased, the consequences of climate change 63 became more evident with adverse effects on the quinoa and qañawa production. 64 According to Risi, Rojas and Pacheco (2015), yields of quinoa show a decrease, which 65 they attributed to monoculture and low soil fertility. However, it is very likely that the 66 factors derived from climate change are contributing to the decline in yield. 67 2 68 On climate change, various concepts have been raised. According to Useros (2013), the 69 generally accepted concepts are two, "that of the IPCC and that of the UN Framework 70 Convention. The first focuses on the identifiable change in climate, regardless of whether 71 it is due to natural variability or that resulting from human activity, and the second, refers 72 to the change induced by human activity, either directly or indirectly and that adds to the 73 natural climatic variability " 74 75 The adverse climatic phenomena in the high Andes are drought, frost, hail and wind. 76 These adverse factors affect quinoa and qañawa, but the effects are differentiated for 77 species and within varieties of the same species. 78 79 In this context, the genetic improvement of quinoa and qañawa must play an important 80 role in obtaining varieties adapted to the new context and satisfying the quality 81 requirements of the product demanded in the local and export markets. 82 83 With the described background, in the present work a brief description of the context is 84 made, the revision of the advances in the improvement of quinoa and qañawa in the high 85 Andes, the methods used and varieties generated to date. Then, propose some adjustments 86 in the methods of improvement of quinoa and qañawa in a context of climate change. 87 88 2. The adverse effects of climate change in the high Andes 89 90 The agriculture of the high Andes, has always been developed in an environment of 91 climatic variability, the phenomena of drought and frost were present in a range of 92 variation that the farmers managed based on local technologies and management of 93 agroecosystems. However, with the effects of climate change, the varietal component 94 requires adjustments so that the production of quinoa and qañawa can adapt to climate 95 change. 96 97 In much of South America, the episodes of El Niño and La Niña are those that affect the 98 temporal and spatial distributions of rain, with episodes of El Niño with below-normal 99 rainfall and La Niña episodes with rainfall more than of the normal (Herzog et al., 201d 100 and Vuille, 2013). 3 101 According to projections, until the middle of the 21st century or until the end of the 102 century, in the high plains and the subtropical Andes, the tendency is to decrease 103 precipitation by up to 10% with evidence of severe impacts of the climatic extremes that 104 are occurring or that may occur in the region (Herzog et al., 2012). 105 106 In the Bolivian highlands, the adverse factors related to climate change are drought, frost, 107 hail, and wind among others. These factors negatively affect the production of crops at 108 different stages of their development. 109 110 2.1. Drought 111 112 In the highlands, the drought occurs at the beginning and at the end of the rainy season 113 (García et al., 2015). In the rain fed agriculture system, drought may occur at sowing 114 time, in the stage of vegetative development and in the reproductive phase of quinoa and 115 qañawa. 116 117 The drought in the sowing season leads to postpone sowing. If it causes failures in the 118 emergence of seedlings, it leads to repeat sowing or cancel the sowing. In the vegetative 119 phase, drought causes growth retardation, with the consequent lengthening of the 120 productive cycle; while in reproductive phase drought accelerates maturation. Quinoa has 121 outstanding capacity for adaptation to drought and other adverse conditions, thus, it has 122 valuable potential for future challenges of climate change (Zurita et al., 2014). 123 124 In relative terms, quinoa tolerates drought better than qañawa, however, the precocity of 125 the qañawa and the low sensitivity to photoperiod allow the qañawa to reach its 126 productive cycle even if the planting date is delayed. 127 128 2.2. Frost 129 130 In general, when frost occurs on fields with quinoa and qañawa cultivation, quinoa is 131 more affected than qañawa. Qañawa is frost-tolerant species and can report high yields in 132 marginal soil conditions (Rojas et al., 2010). On the other hand, in both crops, the 133 sensitivity to frost differs according to the phenological phase in which the plant is at the 134 time of the occurrence of frost. In the seedling phase, both quinoa and qañawa are highly 4 135 tolerant to frost, the susceptibility increases as their development proceeds, being more 136 sensitive in the flowering stage. 137 138 In quinoa, the damage by frost is the freezing of leaf tissue that are immediate and visible 139 effects. However, the frost also causes the death of the epidermal tissue of the stem, its 140 damage is evident in subsequent stages to the occurrence of frost. These damages are 141 considered as the sequels of the frost, since these are observed after the occurrence of 142 frost. The sequels of the frost in the quinoa are longitudinal cracking of the stem, 143 superficial necrosis of the stem tissue and finally the fall of the plants. 144 145 According to Jacobsen et al. (2007), the quinoa possesses the capacity of overcooling 146 which prevents the damage by avoiding ice formation by means of a moderate 147 overcooling; in addition they report that the quinoa has high levels of sugar that could 148 reduce the freezing point.