A Review: Nutritional, Medicinal and Economic Importance of Quinoa

On the basis of reviewed literatures, Crop Quinoa is abiotic stress tolerant, low input requiring and economic produce is grain of superior nutritional profile as compared to common cereals. Its production technology has yet to be explored according to local conditions. For obtaining high crop yields nutrient in balanced amount is a basic requirement. Quinoa has great importance in supplying essential amino acids, protein, starch, ash. It is also useful in economic processing. The medicinal values are much higher than other cereal crops. The cultivation of this crop is much easier than other crop and can grow in drought, salinity and stress condition.


INTRODUCTION
The Chenopodium (family Amaranthaceae) contains regarding 250 species (Giusti, 1970), that embody herbaceous, woody and arboresque perennials, though most species are colonizing annu-als (Wilson, 1990). Chenopodium spp. are culti-vated for hundreds of years as a greens (Chenopodium album) likewise as a vital subsidiary grain crop (Chenopodium quinoa and C. album) for human and animal foodstuff because of highprotein and a balanced amino-acid spectrum with high essential amino acid (5.1-6.4%) and essential amino acid (0.4-1.0%) contents (Prakash & Pal, 1998;& Bhargava et al., 2003a). C. quinoa Willd could be a native of the range of mountains region and is a member of the section Cellulata of the section caryophylloid dicot genus of the genus Chenopodium. It belongs to the cluster of crops referred to as pseudo cereals (Cusack, 1984;& Koziol, 1993) that has different domesticated chenopods, amaranths and buckwheat. The grain has high-protein content with abundance of essential amino acids, and a large vary of vitamins and minerals (Repo-Carrasco et al., 2003). Recently, there has been growing interest in a very variety of states (especially in Europe), initiating introduction and analysis work on quinoa (Galwey, 1992;& Jacobsen, 2003).

Nutritional importance
The dietary excellence of quinoa has been recognised considering that historic instances with inside the Inca Empire.

Starch
Starch is the most important carbohydrate in quinoa grains, making up approximately 58.1-64.2% of the dry matter (Repo-Carrasco et al., 2003). Quinoa starch consists of two polysaccharides: amylose and amylopectin. The amylase content of quinoa starch varies between 3% and 20%, while the amylose fraction of quinoa starch is quite low (Abugoch, 2009).

Stress tolerance
Quinoa well-knownshows excessive tiers of resistance to numerous of the most important damaging elements together with soil salinity, drought (Jensen et al., 2000;González et al., 2009González et al., , 2011Jacobsen et al., 2009;& Fuentes & Bhargava, 2011), frost (Jacobsen et al., 2005, 2007, sicknesses and pests (Jacobsen et al., 2003a;& Bhargava et al., 2003). Due to its sturdiness below damaging weather conditions, quinoa can be one of the alternatives for meals manufacturing below numerous damaging abiotic constraints (FAO, 1998). The frost resistance of quinoa has been identified for lots years (Rea et al., 1979). The species well-knownshows 100% germination even at 2°C and no extreme impact at the plant at temperatures near to −3°C (Bois et al., 2006).

Economic Processing
Quinoa has numerous uses. It is taken into consideration as one of the excellent leaf protein listen reassets and so has the capacity as a protein replacement for meals and fodder and withinside the pharmaceutical industry. The complete plant also can be used as inexperienced fodder for cattle, sheep, pigs, horses and hen. Results have indicated that as much as one hundred fifty g/kg unprocessed or dehulled quinoa seed might be covered in broiler feed (Jacobsen et al., 1997). This incorporation of quinoa in hen feeds can substantially gain the hen industry. The seeds may be eaten as a rice replacement, as a warm breakfast cereal or may be boiled in water to make little one cereal meals (Bhargava et al., 2006a). Quinoa flour in mixture with wheat flour or corn meal is utilized in making biscuits, bread and processed meals (Bhargava et al., 2006a). There are severa recipes for approximately one hundred preparations, which include tamales, huancaína sauce, leaf salad, pickled quinoa ears, soups and casseroles, stews, torrejas, pastries, chocolates and desserts, and tender and fermented warm and bloodless beverages, in addition to breads, biscuits and pancakes, which incorporate 15-20% quinoa flour. The flour has properly gelation property, water absorption ability, emulsion ability and stability (Oshodi et al., 1999). The excessive water absorptivity can be used withinside the formula of a few meals which includes sausages, dough, processed cheese, soups and baked products (Oshodi et al., 1999). It may be fermented to make beer, or used to feed livestock (Galwey, 1989). Solid-nation fermentation of quinoa with Rhizopus oligosporus Saito affords a properly-first-rate tempeh (Valencia-Chamorro, 2003). Quinoa milk, a excessive first-rate and nutritive product, may also have the capacity for intake as milk or as an factor of milky products (Jacobsen et al., 2003b). This tasty and healthful product is of precise significance for those who are not able to digest casein or animal lactose.

Medicinal Values
The use of quinoa for medicinal functions has additionally been mentioned. The plant is reportedly utilized in inflammation, as an analgesic and as a disinfectant of the urinary tract. It is likewise utilized in fractures and inner haemorrhaging and as an insect repellent (Mujica, 1994). The presence of glycine betaine, trigonelline and their derivatives has been mentioned withinside the plant (Jancurova et al., 2009). In humans, glycine betaine may be with no trouble absorbed thru nutritional consumption or endogenously synthesized withinside the liver thru choline catabolism. The awareness of glycine betaine in human blood plasma is exceedingly regulated. Its concentrations are decrease in sufferers with renal disease, and its urinary excretion is improved in sufferers with diabetes mellitus (Dini et al., 2006).