Lost Crops of the Incas Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Maca
Maca
Pages 56-65
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From page 57... ...
Cultivated mace survives in areas where even bitter potatoes cannot grow (see page 99) , and its wild ancestor grows even higher just below the perpetual ice, on cold, desolate wastes where grazing sheep and llamas is the only possible land use, and the only other forage consists of coarse, sparse grasses lacking in nutritional quality.
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From page 58... ...
Its cultivation is declining. Once it was probably grown from Ecuador to northern Argentina, and hundreds of hectares of terraces apparently were devoted to its cultivation; now it is restricted to a few tiny scattered fields, and it is fast dwindling toward agricultural oblivion.
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From page 59... ...
Only research and trials will tell if it could represent a new contribution to the diets of people living in mountainous areas worldwide. Other than preliminary trials, this crop warrants no vigorous research attention outside the Andes at this point, although there are many areas (for example, the high Himalayas)
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From page 60... ...
The dried roots are approximately 13-16 percent protein, and are rich in essential amino acids. The fresh roots contain unusually high amounts of iron and iodine, two nutrients that are often deficient in the highland diet.
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From page 61... ...
Maca is usually planted in small plots, often surrounded by stone fences or earth ridges that protect the plants from desiccating wind and ground-creeping frosts. The tiny seeds, still mixed with plant debris and fine earth, are scattered on carefully worked soil.
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From page 62... ...
If so, it may be difficult to cultivate outside equatorial highlands. The dried roots are shriveled and brown and are not visually attractive.
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From page 63... ...
The Puna is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. A treeless ecological zone between 3,800 and 4,800 m elevation, it is characterized by steppes, uncultivated fields, tundra, and barren alpine and subalpine plains.
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From page 64... ...
7 Cruciferae includes some of the most widely grown vegetable crops: radish, turnip, cabbage, mustard, and rape, for instance. Maca is the only Lepidium species whose roots are used as a food, but the leaves of other species are used as greens, especially the common cress, Lepidium sativam, which occurs naturally from Europe to the Sudan and to the Himalayas, and has been cultivated since ancient times as a green vegetable.
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From page 65... ...
Resistance to night frosts of -10°C have been reported, although the plant is normally mulched to protect it from extreme cold (night temperatures of-20°C are not uncommon just before or after the harvest)
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