Could deficit irrigation be a sustainable practice for quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) in the Southern Bolivian Altiplano?
Author InfoGeerts, Sam Raes, Dirk Garcia, Magali Condori, Octavio Mamani, Judith Miranda, Roberto Cusicanqui, Jorge Taboada, Cristal Yucra, Edwin Vacher, Jean Abstract The application of deficit irrigation (DI) to stabilize yield and to increase water productivity of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) raises questions in the arid Southern Altiplano of Bolivia where water resources are limited and often saline. Rainfed quinoa and quinoa with irrigation restricted to the flowering and early grain filling were studied during the growing seasons of 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 in a location with (Irpani) and without (Mejillones) water contribution from a shallow water table. It was found that the effect of additional irrigation was only significant above a basic fulfillment of crop water requirements of around 55%. Below this threshold, yields, total water use efficiency (TWUE) and marginal irrigation water use efficiency (MIWUE) of quinoa with DI were low. Capillary rise (CR) from groundwater
