LAUSR

Abstract Amaranth is a pseudocereal with potential health benefits. Amaranth has recently gained importance due to its high capacity to grow in adverse conditions. Details about the growth and development of amaranth is fundamental to its cultivation, but reports on the phenological growth stages, development, and the life cycle of amaranth are limited. Under normal conditions, amaranth plants are as high as 2.2 m, making their handling difficult. Thus, this study determined the phenological growth stages and life cycle of amaranth in restricted spaces. Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus hybridus, and Amaranthus hypochondriacus plants were cultivated in restricted spaces. The physiological and qualitative features as number of leaves, length of plants and leaves, panicle color, were used to determine the different phenological growth stages and life cycle of amaranth plants. The phenological growth stages were described via Biologische Bundesanstalt Bundessortenamt and CHemische Industrie (BBCH) decimal code. Plants between 15 and 22 cm were generated, and each phenological growth stage was easily managed in restricted spaces. The time for each phenological growth stage was examined in different amaranth species and this offered a general representation of the phenological growth stages and life cycle of amaranth. This work established the phenological growth stages of amaranth based on the BBCH coding system managed in restricted spaces. These observations allow us to envision amaranth as a model plant in which each phenological growth stage describing its life cycle is managed easily under limited spaces, which could be an advantage for better manipulation and future studies.