Andean Crops Germination: Changes in the Nutritional Profile, Physical and Sensory Characteristics. A Review.

Andean crops such as quinoa, amaranth, cañihua, beans, maize, and tarwi have gained interest in recent years for being gluten-free and their high nutritional values; they have high protein content with a well-balanced essential amino acids profile, minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, and antioxidant compounds. During the germination bioprocess, the seed metabolism is reactivated resulting in the catabolism and degradation of macronutrients and some anti-nutritional compounds. Therefore, germination is frequently used to improve nutritional quality, protein digestibility, and availability of certain minerals and vitamins; furthermore, in specific cases, biosynthesis of new bioactive compounds could occur through the activation of secondary metabolic pathways. These changes could alter the technological and sensory properties, such as the hardness, consistency and viscosity of the formulations prepared with them. In addition, the flavor profile may undergo improvement or alteration, a critical factor to consider when integrating sprouted grains into food formulations. This review summarizes recent research on the nutritional, technological, functional, and sensory changes occur during the germination of Andean grains and analyze their potential applications in various food products.

The genome of Chenopodium pallidicaule: An emerging Andean super grain.

PREMISE: Cañahua is a semi-domesticated crop grown in high-altitude regions of the Andes. It is an A-genome diploid (2n = 2x = 18) relative of the allotetraploid (AABB) Chenopodium quinoa and shares many of its nutritional benefits. Cañahua seed contains a complete protein, a low glycemic index, and offers a wide variety of nutritionally important vitamins and minerals. METHODS: The reference assembly was developed using a combination of short- and long-read sequencing techniques, including multiple rounds of Hi-C-based proximity-guided assembly. RESULTS: The final assembly of the ~363-Mbp genome consists of 4633 scaffolds, with 96.6% of the assembly contained in nine scaffolds representing the nine haploid chromosomes of the species. Repetitive element analysis classified 52.3% of the assembly as repetitive, with the most common repeat identified as long terminal repeat retrotransposons. MAKER annotation of the final assembly yielded 22,832 putative gene models. DISCUSSION: When compared with quinoa, strong patterns of synteny support the hypothesis that cañahua is a close A-genome diploid relative, and thus potentially a simplified model diploid species for genetic analysis and improvement of quinoa. Resequencing and phylogenetic analysis of a diversity panel of cañahua accessions suggests that coordinated efforts are needed to enhance genetic diversity conservation within ex situ germplasm collections.

Physicochemical and structural properties of starch from five Andean crops grown in Bolivia.

Three Andean grains - amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), canihua (Chenopodium pallidicaulle) - and two Andean roots starches - achira (Canna indica), maca (Lepidium meyenii) - were studied. Physicochemical properties such as granule size, crystallinity, pasting properties among other as well as structural properties such as root-mean-square radius (rrms), weight-average molar mass (Mw) and apparent density (ρapp) were analyzed in order to evaluate the relation between them. Grains were similar in most of their characteristics as roots in their i.e. granule size, shape, type of crystallinity, Mw and rrms varied according to botanical source. The starch granules from grains were in a narrow diameter range (0.5 to 2 µm) and displayed A-type X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). Roots starch had a wide granule diameter range (1 to 100 µm) and displayed a B-type XRD. The amylose content varied between 0 and 48% where amaranth had the lowest value and achira had the highest. Furthermore, quinoa and canihua starches had very low breakdown in pasting properties, indicating high stability during cooking. A model is proposed that relates pasting properties i.e. peak viscosity and final viscosity with ρapp, gelatinization enthalpy, granule size and amylose content.

Organic quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa L.) production in Peru: Environmental hotspots and food security considerations using Life Cycle Assessment.

Quinoa is a plant that is cultivated in the Andean highlands across Peru and Bolivia. It is increasingly popular due to its high nutritive value and protein content. In particular, the cultivation of organic quinoa has grown substantially in recent years since it is the most demanded type of quinoa in the foreign market. Nevertheless, despite the interest that quinoa has generated in terms of its nutritional properties, little is known regarding the environmental profile of its production and processing. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to analyze the environmental impacts that are linked to the production and distribution of organic quinoa to the main export destinations through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. An attributional LCA perspective was conducted including data from approximately 55 ha of land used for quinoa production in the regions of Huancavelica and Ayacucho, in southern-central Peru. IPCC, 2013 and ReCiPe 2008 were the two assessment methods selected to estimate the environmental impact results using the SimaPro 8.3 software. Results, which were calculated for one 500 g package of organic quinoa, showed that GHG emissions are in the upper range of other organic agricultural products. However, when compared to other high protein content food products, especially those from animal origin, considerably low environmental impacts are obtained. For instance, if 20% of the average annual beef consumption in Peru is substituted by organic quinoa, each Peruvian would mitigate 31 kg CO2eq/year in their diet. Moreover, when the edible protein energy return on investment (i.e., ep-EROI) is computed, a ratio of 0.38 is obtained, in the higher range of protein rich food products. However, future research should delve into the environmental and food policy implications of agricultural land expansion to produce an increasing amount of quinoa for a growing global demand.