Peruvian scientists presented the results of a research that identified
types of quinoa with higher resistance to downy mildew, a microscopic fungus that strongly affects such crop, the National Institute of Agricultural Innovation (INIA) has reported.
The team, led by Rigoberto Estrada Zuñiga —an expert on Andean grains— collected 192 samples of the disease in 20 provinces of five
quinoa-producing regions, which were analyzed in greenhouse tests and at INIA's laboratories.
As a result, they assessed the reaction of 100 accessions of quinoa that are part of the germplasm bank established at INIA's Agricultural Experimental Station – Andenes, located in southern Cusco region, of which four showed higher resistance to mildew.
This genetic material —selected through the project— will be used in improvement programs in order to generate quinoa varieties resistant to mildew in southern Peru's production fields that contribute to counteracting the incidence of this disease by reducing production losses, in a bid to improve producers' economic incomes.
In his speech at an international meeting in Chile, Zuñiga explained in detail the experiments developed within the framework of the project "Study of genetic diversity of Peronospora sparsa causing downy mildew disease on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa wild) and search of differential accessions."
This project was carried out since 2016, together with Cayetano Heredia and San Antonio Abad universities, and financed with funds from the National Agricultural Innovation Program —INIA's executive unit.
The
7th World Congress on Quinoa gathers experts from China, Greece, Malawi, Mexico, United States, Peru, and Bolivia, together with counterparts from Chile, as well as local and foreign agricultural producers.
It is organized by the Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP) and the Office of Agricultural Policies and Studies (Odepa) —of Chile's Agricultural Ministry— along with QuinoLab —a research team from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
(END) NDP/LIT/RMB/MVB
Published: 3/28/2019