Prospects of using amaranth Amaranthus caudatus L. as an oil culture in southern Ukraine
Authors: Vedmedeva K.V. , Makhova T.V. , Levchenko V.I. 
Published: January 2022

Samples of amaranth were involved in the introduction and study in the conditions of zaporizhia region in the laboratory of genetics and genetic resources: volotisty, white elbrus, kharkiv 1, zernovy, indian. According to other researchers, it is known that the variety "elbrus" is considered decorative, has a plant height of 70 cm, white pyramidal inflorescences with a greenish tinge length of 15 cm. Or grain. It has green leaves and inflorescences. Height up to 1.8-1.9 meters, grain yield 1.6 t/ha, weight of 1000 seeds 0.7 g. No descriptions of other samples provided for introduction were found. The samples were sown with a row spacing of 70 cm with a standing density of 95 thousand pieces/ha. The area of the plots was 1.5 m2. The tests were performed in 2018 and 2021. Harvesting was performed manually (without breaking the plants) three times during the ripening of the brush on each plant separately. The description of plants was carried out according to the methods of assessment for difference, homogeneity and stability. Seed quality assessment was carried out according to DSTU. The weather conditions of the test years were favorable for growing amaranth and many other crops. In particular, 2018 was favorable: it had average monthly temperatures higher by 2-4oC than long-term averages. Rainfall by months during the growing season was less than the average for many years, except in July. July with a lot of rain created good conditions for the formation and filling of seeds. 2021 turned out to be extremely wet. During the growing season, monthly precipitation was two or more times higher than the average long-term data. Except for the second half of August, when ripening took place. In general, the weather conditions turned out to be quite favorable, better than the long-term ones, which allowed us to assess the potential of the culture. Plants of all varieties have formed quite large. Real dwarfs, as well as giants among them were not observed. This probably indicates re-pollination and the absence of genetically pure seed varieties, as amaranth is a cross-pollinated crop. The lowest was a sample called Indian with an average plant height of 127 cm. It was characterized by high alignment of the sample, small white tassels of drooping shape. Two types of plants were observed in the Elbrus variety: normal ripening and very late tall ones, which did not form tufts. Only ordinary ones with formed pyramidal tassels, slightly pinkish color and green leaves were used in the calculations. The other three specimens of amaranth had anthocyanin color on the leaves, in the form of spots, or on the edges, dark anthocyanin tassels in the majority of the tail. Samples Paniculate and grain were significantly different in the length of the tassels. The longest brush 58 cm was observed in the specimen Volotisty, and the smallest in the Indian variety 37 cm. Seeds of specimens with anthocyanin spots on the leaves and dark purple inflorescences were always dark brown. The white Elbrus variety had a light white-pink color of the seeds, and the Indian specimen was completely white. It is impossible to visually distinguish and distinguish between seeds by their size. However, the weight of the mass of 1000 seeds clearly indicates a larger seed and the possibility of grain use. Thus, the Kharkiv variety had the largest weight of 1000 seeds of 0.86 g. The second largest panicle with a weight of 0.75 g. White Elbrus and Grain had similar weights of 1000 seeds of 0.57 and 0.56 g, respectively. The lightest seeds were found in the Indian sample 0.43 g. The calculated biological yield of the samples was very excellent. The normal grain yield of 1.63 t/ha was formed by the sample of variety Kharkivsky 1. The sample White Elbrus showed a yield of 1.16 t/ha. As already mentioned, some plants of this variety did not form racemes and the calculation was performed only on the formed plants of medium height with available inflorescences. All others showed significantly lower yields from 0.7 to 0.3 t/ga. The results show a very low overall yield, even in years with unusually high rainfall for our area. In the same year, 2021, weather conditions allowed to obtain an average yield of 2.5 t/ha from soybean and sunflower experiments. Comparing these data with the yield of amaranth, the potential of the available samples is much lower. This indicates a fairly low level of breeding qualities of the introduced varieties. Scientific studies of other varieties in South America indicate a yield of 2.8-3.2 t/ha. This indicates the potential for increasing crop yields in our conditions. The obtained seeds of the crops of 2018 and 2021 were analyzed for protein and oil content. The protein content in both years was at the same level and the sample with a lower protein content in 2018 was the same in 2021. The average protein content for all repetitions was the lowest in the sample White Elbrus - 8.19%. In all other samples, the protein content was close to 11% and did not differ significantly from each other. The oil content in the seeds was quite small but stable. The lowest average oil content was in the sample Volotisty 6.61%, and the highest 9.17% in the sample Kharkiv. The oil was tested for composition and it was found that it mainly consists of three acids palmitic, oleic and linoleic. The highest content of linoleic acid (36-48%). Of all the samples, the Kharkiv sample differs significantly from the others in the direction of reducing the linoleic acid content to 36.31%. All others contain 45-48% linoleic acid in oil. The second most oleic acid is 27-40%. Accordingly, the Kharkiv sample has a high content of 40.16%. The content of palmitic acid in amaranth oil was at a fairly high level of 18.67-22.50%. Statistical calculations show the significance of differences in the content of palmitic acid in the oil of amaranth samples. The highest content of 22.50% had the sample White Elbrus and the lowest 18.67% sample Indian. Other acids in amaranth oil have a very low content. Only the content of stearic acid exceeds 1%, and linoleic and eicosenoic are not always in very small quantities. Data obtained on the composition of amaranth oil in the form of three palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids in the same ratio established by other scientists. However, the oil content in other researchers as well as the yield sometimes differed significantly from our data. The oil content was lower in Ghaffari M. et.al., and in Shukla A, et al. there were samples that had up to 11% oil. However, the variability in research for the use of amaranth in the oil direction in our opinion is not very large. The seed potential achieved, for example, in sunflower with an oil content of up to 50%, or a combination in some oil samples of 40% and a protein content of 20%, shows that plant seeds can contain even more than 50% dry matter in the form of proteins and fats. And in the studied varieties of amaranth so far protein and oil together barely reach 20%. According to the results of the introduction and study of five samples of amaranth in Zaporozhye, it was found that the samples show diversity in morphological features. They have an oil content in the seeds from 6.6 to 9.12%, a protein content of 8.19–11.52%, and a yield of 0.3 to 1.62 t/ha. This shows the possibility of growing amaranth in Zaporozhye, but also the need for serious breeding work to create more valuable food seeds. First of all, it is necessary to increase oil content, reduce the amount of palmitic acid in the oil and increase seed yield. Only under such conditions will the culture have oil and food value at the level of the main crops.