Unraveling the genetic and morphological diversity of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa willd.)

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a pseudo cereal used as a superfood because of its nutritional status. This study focuses on the morphological and molecular characterization of 36 quinoa genotypes, aiming to evaluate their genetic diversity and potential for breeding. Ten qualitative characters were selected for morphological analysis, revealing significant variations in traits such as spikelet color, leaf length, and plant height. Analysis of variance showed that most quantitative traits, including days to 50% flowering and seed yield, exhibited significant differences among genotypes, indicating substantial genetic variability. High heritability and genetic advance were observed for traits like leaf length and seed yield, suggesting strong potential for genetic improvement. The genotypic performance highlighted superior traits in genotypes ACQS1, EC 896115, IGKVC-12, ACQS8, EC 896208, and EC 896219 for leaf length, number of internodes, leaf width, petiole length, plant height, length of inflorescence, and number of inflorescences. Genotypes EC 896065, EC 896213, EC 896201, SHQ4, SHQ5, ACQS1, ACQS2, ACQS3, and EC 896218 exhibited higher seed weight, while EC 896109, ACQS3, ACQS1, and EC 896219 showed higher yield. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation (GCV and PCV) were recorded for leaf length (31.22, 34.71), leaf width (43.64, 44.91), number of internodes (40.47, 40.59), petiole length (35.46, 36.04), plant height (33.35, 54.47), length of inflorescence (36.41, 36.99), and seed yield (33.58, 34.53). Heritability was highest for the number of internodes (99.38%), with significant genetic advances observed in traits such as leaf length (57.86%) and seed yield (67.28%). Seed weight shows the highest positive direct effect (0.701), followed by the number of inflorescences per plant (0.700), whereas days to 50% flowering (-0.768) show the highest negative direct effect. Molecular diversity analysis using 16 ISSR markers revealed a polymorphism rate of 56.1%, with significant allelic variation among markers. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.274 to 0.797, indicating varying levels of marker informativeness. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into two major clusters, demonstrating genetic diversity among the studied genotypes. Exploring the genetic basis of key traits and conducting further molecular characterization can provide deeper insights into the genetic architecture of quinoa. Additionally, incorporating more advanced genomic tools and expanding the genotypic pool could facilitate the development of high-yielding, resilient quinoa varieties.