Sun Hongju, Khan Waqas Ud Din, Tanveer Mohsin, Ijaz Usman, Lu Zhanyuan, Shabala Sergey
School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
Key Laboratory of Forage and Endemic Crop Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Aug 21;16:1636565. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1636565. eCollection 2025.
Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change and crop production is severely hampered by climate extremes. Not only does it cost growers over US$170Bln in lost production, but it also has major implications for global food security. In this study, we argue that, under current climate scenarios, agriculture in the 21 century will become saline, severely limiting (or even making impossible) the use of traditional cereal crops for human caloric intake. As regaining the lost abiotic stress tolerance can only be achieved using modern gene editing technologies and given uncertainties on when and to what extent the public will embrace such new technologies, domestication of already tolerant wild species or semi-domesticated "orphan" species is arguably the most efficient way to proceed. One of them is quinoa (), which is the focus of this review. Accordingly, we comprehensively evaluated the nutritional qualities of quinoa and discussed the benefits of using quinoa as a viable alternative to traditional cereals from both agronomical and nutritional points of view. We also highlight the existing gaps in the knowledge and the next steps required to ensure public acceptance of quinoa in a daily diet, alongside (or instead of) traditional cereals such as wheat or rice.
农业极易受到气候变化的影响，极端气候严重阻碍了作物生产。这不仅给种植者造成了超过1700亿美元的产量损失，还对全球粮食安全产生了重大影响。在本研究中，我们认为，在当前气候情景下，21世纪的农业将盐碱化，这将严重限制（甚至使使用传统谷类作物获取人类热量摄入变得不可能）。由于只有利用现代基因编辑技术才能恢复已丧失的非生物胁迫耐受性，而且公众何时以及在何种程度上会接受此类新技术尚不确定，驯化已经具有耐受性的野生种或半驯化的“孤生”物种可以说是最有效的途径。藜麦就是其中之一，它是本综述的重点。因此，我们全面评估了藜麦的营养品质，并从农艺学和营养学角度讨论了将藜麦用作传统谷类作物可行替代品的益处。我们还强调了现有知识差距以及确保藜麦在日常饮食中（与小麦或大米等传统谷类作物一起或取而代之）被公众接受所需的后续步骤。
