- Email: [email protected]
AMARANTH
166 AMARANTH Yokel RA and Golub MS (1997) Research Issues in Aluminium Toxicity. Washington: Taylor & Francis. Zafar TA, Weaver CM, Martin BR, Flarend R and Elmore D (1997) Aluminium (26Al) metabolism in rats. Proceedings
of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 216: 81–85. Zatta PF and Alfrey AC (1997) Aluminium Toxicity in Infant’s Health and Disease. Singapore: World Scientific.
AMARANTH R Bressani, Instituto de Investı´ gaciones, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Background 0001
Amaranth, a legacy of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, continues to be an underexploited plant with a promising economic value due to the variety of uses it can have and the benefits it can provide to producers, processors, and consumers. Present interests have developed because the plant offers leaves of a high nutritional quality when used as a vegetable, because the grains have a high protein content and quality, and because the whole plant offers a highly acceptable forage. The amaranth plant is also attractive since it adapts itself to a large number of environments, grows with vigor, produces large amounts of biomass, and resists drought, heat, and pests. Less attractive features of the plant include leaves that tend to accumulate nitrate and oxalates, and a very small grain size, which necessitates a large labor force when harvesting. With only a relative small research effort, a strong knowledge base is being constructed and is beginning to reveal the economic value and nutritional benefits of this ancient legacy crop.
Origin and Distribution 0002
The Amaranthacea comprise over 60 genera, which include around 800 species of dicotlyledonous, herbaceous plants, of either annual or perennial growth. There are three species of the genus Amaranthus that produce relatively large inflorescences with often more than 50 000 edible seeds per plant. These are A. hypochondriacus from Mexico, A. cruentus from Guatemala and A. caudatus from Peru and other Andean countries. Vegetable amaranths grow very well in the hot, humid regions of Africa, South-east Asia, Southern China, and India; they are represented by various amaranth species, such as A. tricolor, A. dubius, A. cruentus, A. edulis, A. retroflexus, A. viridis, and A. hybridus. Grain amaranth was an
important crop for the preHispanic, New World civilizations. Its presence goes back some 4000 years bc in the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico, also the most likely site for the origin of maize. Its use is said to have been highly associated with religious festivities, which were forbidden by the Spanish conquerors and resulted in the elimination of the crop. Its production declined to small and insignificant levels, but it did not disappear. From Mesoamerica and the Andean region, grain amaranth was apparently carried as a weed, ornamental, or grain to other parts of the world. At present, there are three major germ plasm collections: (1) USDA Plant Introduction Center, Ames, Iowa, US; (2) Universidad del Cuzco, Cuzco, Peru; (3) National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Shimla, India.
Classification Amaranth is a dicotyledonous plant, not a grass like most cereals, which are monocotyledonous; rather, it is a pseudocereal. Amaranth shows an extreme botanical plasticity in adaptation that contributes to difficulties and confusion in its taxonomy. It is classified by means of flower structure, the form and proportion of leaves and inflorescence. These highly variable characters also allow for a high hybridization frequency, and assure the availability of a large germ plasm reserve.
0003
Plant Description Amaranths are broad-leafed plants that can grow to about 1.5–3.0 m high. The plant has a variable growth pattern in the type and number of branches, all of which end with a small seed head, sometimes maturing at the same time as the main seed head. Leaf shape varies from lanceolate to ovate to elliptic. Leaf number and size show great variability within and between species. The leaves, stems, and flowers of amaranth can be green, gold, reddish purple, or various shades. The seed head, some 50–60 cm high, varies from pendulous to spiked, and seed color is usually black, gold, or cream.
0004
of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 216: 81–85. Zatta PF and Alfrey AC (1997) Aluminium Toxicity in Infant’s Health and Disease. Singapore: World Scientific.
AMARANTH R Bressani, Instituto de Investı´ gaciones, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Background 0001
Amaranth, a legacy of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, continues to be an underexploited plant with a promising economic value due to the variety of uses it can have and the benefits it can provide to producers, processors, and consumers. Present interests have developed because the plant offers leaves of a high nutritional quality when used as a vegetable, because the grains have a high protein content and quality, and because the whole plant offers a highly acceptable forage. The amaranth plant is also attractive since it adapts itself to a large number of environments, grows with vigor, produces large amounts of biomass, and resists drought, heat, and pests. Less attractive features of the plant include leaves that tend to accumulate nitrate and oxalates, and a very small grain size, which necessitates a large labor force when harvesting. With only a relative small research effort, a strong knowledge base is being constructed and is beginning to reveal the economic value and nutritional benefits of this ancient legacy crop.
Origin and Distribution 0002
The Amaranthacea comprise over 60 genera, which include around 800 species of dicotlyledonous, herbaceous plants, of either annual or perennial growth. There are three species of the genus Amaranthus that produce relatively large inflorescences with often more than 50 000 edible seeds per plant. These are A. hypochondriacus from Mexico, A. cruentus from Guatemala and A. caudatus from Peru and other Andean countries. Vegetable amaranths grow very well in the hot, humid regions of Africa, South-east Asia, Southern China, and India; they are represented by various amaranth species, such as A. tricolor, A. dubius, A. cruentus, A. edulis, A. retroflexus, A. viridis, and A. hybridus. Grain amaranth was an
important crop for the preHispanic, New World civilizations. Its presence goes back some 4000 years bc in the Tehuacan Valley in Mexico, also the most likely site for the origin of maize. Its use is said to have been highly associated with religious festivities, which were forbidden by the Spanish conquerors and resulted in the elimination of the crop. Its production declined to small and insignificant levels, but it did not disappear. From Mesoamerica and the Andean region, grain amaranth was apparently carried as a weed, ornamental, or grain to other parts of the world. At present, there are three major germ plasm collections: (1) USDA Plant Introduction Center, Ames, Iowa, US; (2) Universidad del Cuzco, Cuzco, Peru; (3) National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Shimla, India.
Classification Amaranth is a dicotyledonous plant, not a grass like most cereals, which are monocotyledonous; rather, it is a pseudocereal. Amaranth shows an extreme botanical plasticity in adaptation that contributes to difficulties and confusion in its taxonomy. It is classified by means of flower structure, the form and proportion of leaves and inflorescence. These highly variable characters also allow for a high hybridization frequency, and assure the availability of a large germ plasm reserve.
0003
Plant Description Amaranths are broad-leafed plants that can grow to about 1.5–3.0 m high. The plant has a variable growth pattern in the type and number of branches, all of which end with a small seed head, sometimes maturing at the same time as the main seed head. Leaf shape varies from lanceolate to ovate to elliptic. Leaf number and size show great variability within and between species. The leaves, stems, and flowers of amaranth can be green, gold, reddish purple, or various shades. The seed head, some 50–60 cm high, varies from pendulous to spiked, and seed color is usually black, gold, or cream.
0004