MISCELLANEOUS Quinoa in Morocco – Effect of Sowing Dates on Development and Yield A. Hirich 1 , R. Choukr-Allah 1 & S.-E. Jacobsen 2 1 Agronomic and Veterinary Medicine Hassan II Institute, Complex of Horticulture in Agadir, Ait melloul, Morocco 2 Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Keywords growth; photoperiod; quinoa; radiations; yield Correspondence A. Hirich Agronomic and Veterinary medicine Hassan II Institute Complex of Horticulture in Agadir 80150, Ait melloul Morocco Tel.: +212 673 530 963 Fax: +212 528 243 333 Email: Hirich_aziz@yahoo.fr Accepted March 26, 2014 doi:10.1111/jac.12071 Abstract Quinoa is a highly nutritious food product, being cultivated for several thousand years in South America, and it is recently introduced in Morocco and showed a high potential of adaptation in Morocco. A field study was carried out in the south of Morocco in order to investigate the effects of sowing date on quinoa performance in a series of experiments conducted for adaptation of quinoa. The experiment took place in Agadir, with a test of 10 sowing dates, each 15 days from 1st November to 15th March. Sowing dates affected the growth and pro- ductivity due to differences in temperature, precipitation and radiation over the year. Highest seed yield and dry matter yield were obtained when quinoa sown in November and early December. The growing season length has been affected by accumulated radiation. In addition to abiotic factors (temperature, radiation, rainfall) affecting quinoa growth, biotic factors such as downy mildew and weeds affected the yield. Early sowing in November to early December secured good plant development when low temperatures occurred in January and February and downy mildew appeared in March. Introduction Quinoa was widely cultivated in the Andean region by pre- Columbian population, and its seeds have been used in the diet of inhabitants of the valleys and in drier areas (350 mm of precipitation) with higher altitudes (above 3500 m.a.sl) and colder temperatures (average 12 °C) such as the Altiplano. Despite being a fully domesticated species, the seeds still contain saponins, so its removal is necessary before they can be consumed (FAO 2011). The geographi- cal distribution of quinoa in the Andean region extends from latitude 5 degrees North in southern Colombia to lat- itude 43° South in Chile, and its altitudinal distribution ranges from sea level in Chile to 4000 m in the Altiplano of Peru and Bolivia (Rojas et al. 2010). Sowing is one of the most important activities of quinoa cropping because the emergence of seedlings impacts plant density and final yield. Seeds are sown, depending on loca- tion, variety, soil moisture and sowing depth (FAO 2011). In the southern Altiplano, the sowing period is from late August to early December, while in the central and north- ern Altiplano, planting time is between October and November, depending on rainfall (Aguilar and Jacobsen 2003). The genetic variability of quinoa is huge, with cultivars of quinoa being adapted to growth from sea level to 4000 m above sea level (masl), from 40°S to 2°N latitude and from cold, highland climate to subtropical conditions. This makes it possible to select, adapt and breed cultivars for a wide range of environmental conditions. A major constraint for growth in northern parts of Europe, Canada and in high-altitude regions is the short growth season, because quinoa requires a maximal developmental time of 150 days in order to secure seed harvest (Jacobsen 2003). Hence, early maturity is one of the most important charac- teristics if quinoa is grown under these conditions. In southern Europe, in the United States and in certain parts of Africa and Asia, there is good potential for increased production of quinoa. In Morocco, quinoa has been tested under different cli- mate and soil conditions with varied yield according to sowing date, cultivar and soil (Hirich et al. 2012a). The seed yield of quinoa sown in Khenifra in the Atlas mountains between October and November was 3.4 t ha À1 © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH, 200 (2014) 371–377 371 J Agro Crop Sci (2014) ISSN 0931-2250