Seasonal Effects on Seed Yield and Quality of Sacha Inchi

Abstract

Sacha inchi is claimed among health conscious people as high nutritional value plant in protecting against several diseases such as high cholesterol and diabetes. Its cultivation is widely interested among farmers in several regions of Thailand. This experiment was to evaluate the effect of production seasons on seed yield and nutritional quality of sacha inchi. The experiment was arranged in completely randomize design (CRD) in 3 seasons. The pod yield of sacha inchi was collected in 3 different seasons (dry, rainy and late rainy) during 2016-2017 which 10 plants were collected in each season. The collected seeds were also analyzed for percent oil yield and fatty acid profile in comparison between the seasons. The dry and late rainy seasons were found to have 20.3% and 20.0% higher pod and seed dry weight than the rainy season, respectively. The seed set in late rainy season was about 4.2% higher than in the dry and rainy seasons. The oil yield extracted from the seeds in late rainy season was 6.7% higher than in the dry and rainy seasons and the similar result was also observed in fatty acid profile. This study investigated that production seasons had affected on both seed yield and nutritional quality of sacha inchi. The information is very useful for management of sacha inchi cultivation in order to maximize the benefit of both yield and nutritional qualities. The future study is requiring increasing the number of experimental locations to further confirm the effect of production season on yield and nutritional quality in sacha inchi.