SweetQuinoa

"Sustainable removal of antinutritional saponins from quinoa seeds" 

The SweetQuinoa project will test the performance of the new “sweet” varieties of the high-yielding, early maturing quinoa cultivar, aiming to illuminate the biological role of saponins in the seed coat and inform future breeding efforts.

Below, you can read more about the project - and soon also; the partners involved, the projects progress, and upcoming results.

Introducing the SweetQuinoa project

Sustainable removal of antinutritional saponins from quinoa seeds

The SweetQuinoa projects aim to illuminate the biological roles of antinutritional saponins in quinoa seeds, which is knowledge of utmost importance for future breeding efforts.

Background for the project

Amidst climate change, quinoa stands out for its robustness against harsh environments and its high nutritional value, although its wider adoption is hindered by the bitter antinutritional saponins in its seeds, which lead to waste during post-harvest processing. We have isolated "sweet" varieties of the high-yielding, early maturing quinoa cultivar, Titicaca, which lack saponins in the seed coat but retain them in leaves, stems and roots. The question is whether saponins in the seed coat protect the seeds or whether they can be reduced without resulting yield losses. This project will test the performance of the new “sweet” varieties under greenhouse and field conditions, aiming to illuminate the biological role of saponins in the seed coat and inform future breeding efforts. If the results are promising, it will allow for the sweet trait to be introduced into new quinoa varieties without affecting yield.