Читать книгу Quinoa - Atul Bhargava - Страница 26

In the highlands, quinoa can grow up to an altitude of 4200 m, its extreme limit of cultivation (Bazile et al., 2011). In the southern Altiplano with the Salar de Uyuni at its centre, there are all the conditions of a typical cold desert, perched up to 3600 m above sea level and surrounded by volcanoes. Rainfall averages 350 mm on the north part of the Salar, but rarely exceeds 150 mm on the south shore, with over 200 days of frost per year.

Quinoa plots are frequently observed on the flanks of the volcanoes (Tunupa, for example) in this region. Quinoa is traditionally cultivated in the middle of lava blocks, to which different local varieties are adapted.

Another traditional agricultural landscape of quinoa is plots scattered on the slopes, where frosts are less frequent than on the plains and lowlands, which are left to pasture. In the south of the Salar, with only 150 mm of rainfall per year, quinoa fields are located in the lowlands. Throughout the region of the Salar (north and south), the plots are cultivated only every two years to allow the necessary soil water accumulation for the crop cycle. Here, quinoa is really the only plant cultivated because of the extreme conditions of this cold high-altitude desert. But in this area mechanization has revolutionized the production system. As a result, quinoa has been able to respond to international market demand, initially from Peru in the 1980s and North America and Europe from the 1990s. The slopes are inaccessible to tractors, so mechanization has been used on the plains. Farmers have converted their pastures to vast monocultures.

Plants of the southern highlands are large, branched, have different colours, large grain size (2.2–2.9 mm) (Bertero et al., 2004) and high saponin content. They are drought resistant, adapted to saline and sandy soils of the shore of salt lakes, and have specific mechanisms of absorption, partition and excretion of salts (Mujica et al., 2010a, 2010b). Traditional technology involves planting in holes, using wide plant spacing and sowing in soil reclaimed from Thola (Parastrephia quadrangularis (Meyen) Cab). Plants are susceptible to Eurisacca quinoae Povolny and Peronospora farinosa Fr., which are adapted to high, dry and cold conditions.

The quinoas of this region are called ‘Quinoa Real’ in the international market. They correspond to a group of landraces from this specific desert region with low annual rainfall (150–350 mm) and high altitude (3800–4200 m). Although quinoas have the same commercial appellation, it is possible to identify under them a high diversity, such as Pandela, Utusaya, Toledo, Achachino, which are well adapted to grow in the Uyuni salt flats: Salinas de Garci Mendoza, Coipasa, Llica in Bolivia, Colchane in Chile and Quebrada del Toro in Argentina.