Adaptabilidad de tres variedades del cultivo de maca (Lepidium meyeni) en la zona de Tabacundo

Abstract

Maca is a crop that is of great importance in nutrition and medicine due to its high content of minerals and vitamins. There is very little information about this crop, which is why many farmers have left this crop aside due to the inexperience they havewhen managing the crop. The present work is carried out in order to let them know ifthis crop can be adapted in other places that are not the high Andean parts. The sectorwhere the trial was located was in the parish of Tabacundo, which is at a height of 2,688 meters above sea level. The ecotypes that were used were the black maca, the white maca and the purple maca, which were adapted in different ways to the climaticand edaphic factors of the sector. Planting was done in beds 60 cm wide and 10 m longwith 50 cm paths, the planting distance used was 10 cm between plants and 10 cm between rows. The yields obtained in each ecotype were values close to those found during the research process and thus it is possible to determine if there was a stable adaptability of maca; however, each maca had its yield and the one with the highest yield was the black maca, which implies that it was the one that most adapted to changesin climate, high and low temperatures, heavy rains and frosts. In the same waywas the maca in which there were no pests or diseases. Ecuador, due to its geographicallocation, has a high probability that maca will be adapted, the provinces of Cañar, Azuay and Loja have begun planting this crop with more than 80 hectares, but the industrialization of this product has been carried out without machinery because the crops are from small farmers who work with their families with this superfood.