Common Lamb's Quarters (Chenopodium album) Improved Grain Quality

[Ryan M Miller]

Over the past three years, I have begun an attempt to breed common lamb's quarters for improved germination rate and increased seed quality. This year, I only got one out of several hundred seeds to sprout after soaking the seeds in water over night. The resulting plant yielded about 100 g of seeds depending on how much chaff was left over after winnowing. If seed yields like this are consistent for every plant, then I would expect grain yields to approach at least half that of maize when planted at the recommended density for quinoa. Here is a link to a video where I harvest the seeds: https://www.bitchute.com/video/C8wvK9MkS9FU/

In spite of the impressive seed yield for this plant, most of the seeds were not even 1.0 millimeter in diameter from the one plant that sprouted. Strangely, I found much larger seeds from a weedy plant that sprouted out of one of my compost piles nearby. Most of the seeds from this wild plant were the typical 0.75 to 1.0 millimeters in diameter, but a few hundred seeds were at least 1.5 millimeters in diameter since they frequently got stuck in my sieve while I was attempting to remove the chaff from them. Hoping that this trait would carry on to the next generation, I saved these exceptionally large seeds in a packet to plant again next year. I'm hoping a plant with larger seeds will have a more consistent germination rate, be easier to winnow, and have a higher value as a grain crop.

Only in the past four years have I discovered that common lamb's quarters is closely related to quinoa. There is very little information available about growing quinoa online, but there is some agreement that quinoa has a poor tolerance of heat compared with other lamb's quarter species and amaranth. Since common wild lamb's quarters grows wild in North America and thrives well into the heat of summer, I'm assuming it can be bred into a heat-tolerant alternative to quinoa to grow for it's seeds as well as its nutritious greens.

[S.Simonsen]

I am interested in this kind of project as well. I am in the subtropics so chenopods are marginal for me, but might be the only viable cool season grain since they are so bird resistant. I am hunting down Peruvian material of quinoa to trial since I am on the same latitude and the more common temperate strains cannot adapt to my daylength patterns. C. album has been a welcome volunteer in my vegetable gardens, but seems to need some kind of soil enrichment and I have almost never seen it growing on unenhanced soil.

This link suggests that interspecies hybridisation in Chenopodium album is possible:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240321814_Study_on_some_hybrids_from_Chenopodium_album_agg_With_14_Figures_and_2_Tables

I wonder if simply growing C. album among other species (adjusting planting times to get simultaneous flowering) then constantly looking out for any forms with larger seeds would work. Hand pollinating such tiny flowers doesnt appeal but should be doable as well. Another option is to use a range of carefully gradiated sieves to select the biggest seed every season for replanting.

[spacecase0]

it grows in my summers, and it is fantastic, would love one with larger seeds.
but the birds where I live eat quite a bit of it.
guess the birds eat all the sorghum...

[Ryan M Miller]

Another lamb's quarter species I've discovered is pitseed goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri). This species was independently domesticated both in Mexico and in eastern North America. The northern cultivars were abandoned in favor of corn (maize), but the Mexican cultivars survived into modern times. The cultivated forms of pitseed goosefoot grown in Mexico are called huauzontle. The seeds can be used as a grain, but this plant is primarily eaten as a vegetable. Since pitseed goosefoot is tetraploid unlike common lamb's quarters (C. album) which is diploid, it shouldn't readily cross-pollinate with common lamb's quarters, so I could theoretically improve both species of lamb's quarters at the same time.

[S.Simonsen]

I have been looking for C. berlandieri seed for ages. If you manage to find some I would be very grateful if you could send some my way.

[Woody Gardener]

I have been looking for C. berlandieri seed for ages. If you manage to find some I would be very grateful if you could send some my way.

[chenopodium berlandieri seeds] brings up several seed sources. I recommend this one:
https://store.underwoodgardens.com/Red-Aztec-Spinach_Huauzontle-Chenopodium-berlandieri/productinfo/V1128/

[stone]

Over the past three years, I have begun an attempt to breed common lamb's quarters for improved germination rate and increased seed quality. This year, I only got one out of several hundred seeds to sprout after soaking the seeds in water over night.

Since common wild lamb's quarters grows wild in North America and thrives well into the heat of summer, I'm assuming it can be bred into a heat-tolerant alternative to quinoa to grow for it's seeds as well as its nutritious greens.

Why soak?
I mostly grow magenta spreen (Chenopodium giganteum).
I think it tastes better, and is certainly prettier... As well as being a superior choice for a southern garden...

I can't imagine needing to improve germination...
When I leave plants standing for the songbirds, enough seeds drop off and come up in late winter that I always have plenty.

As far as a larger seed?
Hadn't given it any thought...

I have sifted out the chaff and added the seed to my pancake batter, with good results... I appreciate the crunch...

There is that off taste though... we read about the intense amount of cleaning needed for quinoa... I don't want to put that much effort into this grain...

I usually stop having any interest in eating the greens after the plant starts to bloom...
I did see them eating the flowering tops on Les Stroud's Wild Harvest, though...

For me, the off taste is just too pronounced...

[Ferdzy]

I once tried to use common wild lamb's quarters as a cover crop and let it go to seed. It pulls out easily and would make a good green manure, I thought, and crowd out some of the more annoying weeds. The trouble was many of the seeds did not germinate the first year but showed up in years two and three, and who knows - maybe they are still showing up.

Anyway, I gave up on that idea.

[Adrian]

Chenopodium germinated easily when the soil is plowed.When we expand compost in ours parcelles its frequent to see a great quantity of chenopodium seeds germinated.

[Steph S]

High rates of seed dormancy seems very much a wild plant trait, ensuring that they can sprout up in subsequent years from the soil seed bank and spread their risk across multiple seasons.  But it should be easy enough to select for prompt germination, as long as there are some plants with that trait in the population.   Maybe worth starting with a population that already has a higher number of early sprouters though.

[Ferdzy]

Yeah, I thought about it for 5 minutes or so, but decided I had better things to do with my time.

These days we're letting mache seed around; it already makes a nice short, shallow-rooted ground cover that is easily removed and also eaten.

[stone]

it should be easy enough to select for prompt germination, as long as there are some plants with that trait in the population.  Maybe worth starting with a population that already has a higher number of early sprouters.

I usually leave the earliest chenopodium to come up as eventual seed producers... seems like I'm already selecting for prompt germination...

When I've shared seed, they certainly come up readily.