Grain characteristics of selected lines of qañawa (Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen) Saiwa and Last'a type in the post-harvest process

Abstract

The breeding program of the Kiphakiphani Research Center has generated promising lines of qañawa (Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen) according to their agronomic behavior. The genetic material requires complementary evaluation in post-harvest aspects. Therefore, it has been proposed to evaluate five lines of the Saiwa type and five of the Last'a type. The objectives have been to describe the characteristics of the grain, evaluate the volume of grain expansion in obtaining qañawa-pop, determine the percentage weight of the perigonium (whole grain and polished grain) and evaluate the performance of whole flake and semolina. The grain (with and without perigonium) of the lines was subjected to visual examination and described according to the specific descriptor for qañawa (IPGRI et al., 2005), then the color of the grain, appearance of the perigonium and the shape of the seed. To obtain qañawa-pop, the grain was washed and conditioned for the expanding process using the traditional method (clay pot). In the obtained pop, the weight and volume were recorded. The hectoliter weight of the grain was determined based on grain with and without perigonium and the flake was obtained by rolling. The quantitative variables were evaluated under the experimental design of Randomized Complete Blocks. The qañawa lines present the grain with the appearance of a closed perigonium, except for one line that has a semi-closed perigonium. The color of the grain covered by the perigonium includes gray, red, yellow and orange, while the color of the seed includes brown and black with a subcylindrical shape with a conical edge. The pop obtained from the qañawa lines has a spheroidal shape as the most frequent and the number eight shape as the least frequent, the maximum expansion volume of the pop reaches up to 154.4% with respect to the volume of grain subjected to expansion and the minimum volume of 55.56%. The hectoliter weight of the grain covered by the perigonium is lower (62,025 kg hl^-1) compared to the weight of grain without the perigonium (81,225 62,025 kg hl^-1). The percentage of polished grain is 87.456% and the weight loss represented by the weight of perigonium is 12.546%. The weight of the whole flake expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the flake was 84.15% and the lowest percentage was 68.88%, which has an inverse relationship with the weight of semolina inside the whole flake. In conclusion, the selected lines of qañawa Siawa and Last'a present variation in post-harvest characteristics such as grain color with perigonium, grain without perigonium, perigonium weight, hectoliter weight (whole grain and polished grain), expansion volume of pop and flake yield, these variables recorded post-harvest, lead to selecting qañawa lines for industrial quality and can contribute to obtaining added value in the qañawa grain.