EFFECT OF SALINE WATER ON SEEDS PROTEIN CONTENT OF QUINOA AND AMARANTH GROWN UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS IN ITALY PULVENTO C., SELLAMI M. H., LAVINI A. National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Mediterranean Agricultural and Forestry Systems (CNRISAFOM), Naples, Italy
Quinoa and Amaranth has been selected to be tested in Italy by the CNR-ISAFOM within the PROTEIN2FOOD project (funded by the EU within the research and innovation framework program, Horizon2020) as high quality protein crops to enhance food protein production in Europe. Agriculture in south Europe is facing with the negative effect of abiotic stresses like salinity that mostly affect seed production and seed quality of traditional crops. Under these conditions, quinoa and amaranth, thanks to their tolerance traits to abiotic stresses represent a good alternative to ensure the production of high protein quality seeds. A field trial from 2015 to 2017 was carried out at the experimental farm of CNR-ISAFOM in South Italy, to evaluate the effect of salinity on one accession of amaranth and one variety of quinoa; the two crops were irrigated in open field using both fresh water (ECw 0.8 dS m1) and saline water (ECw 22dS m-1). The protein content and other quality traits were analyzed in the harvested seeds, to evaluate the effect of applied treatments. The results showed that, in general, conductivity of irrigation water has not affected the main characteristics of production in both crops. Keywords: salinity, seed quality, protein crops, quinoa, amaranth.
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