Abstract
Quinoa(Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), a member of the Amaranthaceae family, is a pseudo-cereal crop that originated from the Andean region of South America. Although the seed grain is relatively small(2-3 mm in diameter), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) has classified quinoa as a food of high nutritive value, and the harvested area of this crop is expanding rapidly globally. In addition to its excellent nutritional profile, quinoa plants are able to tolerate stressful environments and can thrive in arid and salty soils that would not support the growth of major crops such as rice and wheat; therefore it is considered an important crop with the potential to contribute to food security worldwide. Recently, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms underlying the superior nutritional characteristics and environmental adaptability of quinoa, we determined the first draft genome sequence of quinoa and then provided the open access Quinoa Genome DataBase(QGDB; http://quinoa.kazusa.or.jp). Subsequently, we conducted field investigations and interviews to learn about the quinoa cultivation system used in an arid field around the salt flats of Uyuni in Bolivia. In this paper, we describe the cultivation management and productivity of quinoa, and list phenotypic traits that are targeted in quinoa breeding programs in the Uyuni region. We also report on an integrated crop-livestock system with llama(Lama glama) seen in this region, and effective utilization of indigenous genetic resources such as a wild legume, Lupinus pubescens, for sustainable production of quinoa.
