Chenopodium album is one of the more common Chenopods in Eurasia. It's considered as a weed in Europe but there are some studies that confirm its domestication in the Himalayas. This species, very diverse and unknown (2x, 4x and 6x), was cultivated in China, India, Nepal and Bhutan. But today it's very difficult to know the real superficie covered by C album as a crop. Where are the farmers, in which agroecological conditions, for what kind of uses (grains, leaves, etc.)?
One reason for the lack of documented information on chenopods is that many past reports misidentified Chenopodium album as a variety of Amaranth (Amaranthus anardana).
Hello Didier
Except the fact I saw people eating Chenopodium album and tested myself, I have no idea of the cultivated superficie. I hope other colleagues will help you. Regards
Hello Didier
Chenopodium album and other species were cultivated in Uzbekistan as salt (ions) removal species. I have enclosed one of my publications about this subject.
Thank you very much Dear J. Beltrao for sharing with me this important publication on C. album. I have some questions for you about this experimentation. You say that "Chenopodium album can be used for salt removing on the salt-affected soils and can also be incorporated into crop rotation programme." From where do you find seeds of Chenopodium album ? Did you have any problems of germination rate due to high dormancy of wild species? and in that case, wouldn't you expect problems as invasive species in the cropping system with the introduction of C. album? How can you manage the dissemination of the seeds of C. album in the future? Is there any risks? And a last question about yields and products? If farmers can produce biomass of C. album, what's the destination of the production? to feed animals, human? other uses or only residues but to put where? Thank you very much again to share with me this research. Best regards, Didier
For whom who are interested in this area, please read this aricle : Plant Geneic Resources in the Himalayan region from JC Rana et al. 2012, Indian J. Genet , 72 (2).
I received also messages saying that there are breeders that are improving C album in India and Taiwan with white seeded domesticated types from the himalayas.
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