REVIEW article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicPseudocereals as Sustainable Alternative Crops for Food Production Amid Ongoing Climate ChangeView all 7 articles
Amaranth, the Ancient Pseudocereal: A Promising Crop for Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Healthy Diets
Provisionally accepted
Sandra Marcela Macías-Naranjo1,2,3
José María Arjona2
Laura Huebra-Montero1
Jorge Rubio-Heras1
Inmaculada Sánchez-Vicente1
Nieves Aparicio2
Pablo Albertos1*- 1University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
- 2Instituto Tecnologico Agrario de Castilla y Leon, Valladolid, Spain
- 3Innovaciones Agroalimentarias, Valladolid, Spain
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Amaranthus spp. are plant species native to America. They are widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Some species in this genus are considered dual-crops. Their seeds and leaves can be used for both human and animal consumption. Grain and leafy amaranth are gluten-free and rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and low glycemic index carbohydrates. Traditionally, it was grown as a pseudocereal grain, especially in Central and North America. However, cultivated amaranth species still show semidomesticated traits. These traits need to be improved with current agribiotechnological methods. In this review, the actual knowledge on this emerging crop is presented, including centuries of traditional breeding techniques. The journey from history to domestication and taxonomic characterization is summarized. Furthermore, aspects of the responses to abiotic and biotic stresses of this alternative and emerging crop are analyzed in the context of climate change. Finally, the application of new genetic transformation techniques and plant breeding strategies is discussed. This provides a global perspective on the future potential of this emerging crop. However, despite all the advances made with amaranth, future challenges remain in several areas: in scientific research, which requires the full applicability of agribiotechnological methods and knowledge of the molecular basis of pest resistance and stress tolerance; in agriculture, as the optimisation of agronomic practices and post-harvest management; and in the market and industry, such as marketing techniques and policies.
Keywords: abiotic stress, Amaranthus spp., biotic stress, Climate resilience, Domestication, Emerging crops, genetic transformation, nutritional quality
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 20 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Macías-Naranjo, Arjona, Huebra-Montero, Rubio-Heras, Sánchez-Vicente, Aparicio and Albertos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pablo Albertos
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