Response of quinoa to different water management strategies: field experiments and SALTMED model application results

Given the current water shortage in North Africa, improving water management to produce more crop per drop is vital. In addition, the introduction of drought-tolerant, less water-consuming crops such as quinoa is of great interest. To understand the response of quinoa to water stress in terms of biomass and grain yield under various irrigation management strategies, the SALTMED model was employed using field measurements during the cropping seasons of 2011 and 2012 at a site in the Marrakech region, south Morocco. Quinoa showed its ability to grow in the south of Morocco and give a good yield under full irrigation. However, the experimental and modelling results showed that under rainfed and deficit irrigation, the grain yield was lower than under the full irrigation treatment and was dependent on water deficit level. The study revealed that a reasonable grain yield of quinoa can only be obtained if it was subjected to moderate water stress conditions. The results indicated that the SALTMED model is able to simulate the quinoa biomass and grain yield under various water deficit levels and that the model can be used in the evaluation of different irrigation strategies.