Brainfood: Species prioritization, In situ costs, Mycorrhiza, Crop diversity indicator, Diet diversity indicator, Ag & Nutrition, Chestnut blight, Oyster translocation, Maize introgression, Italian asses, New hosts for pests

7 May 2012

Species vulnerability to climate change: impacts on spatial conservation priorities and species representation. Yes, you can focus on sensitive species, but it comes at the cost of representativeness. Estimating management costs of protected areas: A novel approach from the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Those are $ costs per pixel on the map, which I’ve never [...]

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Is there more than one TME 419 cassava?

4 May 2012

The TME 419 cassava that I Nibbled about earlier today has been making quite a splash in both DR Congo and Nigeria. Question is, is it TME 419? Those who know about such things will recognize TME as an IITA genebank number. And indeed, if you look it up either on Genesys or IITA’s genebank [...]

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BBC discovers heirlooms

3 May 2012

I suppose the BBC must have read our post a couple of weeks back about the open letter on the EU seed marketing legislation, and our more recent post on the travails of a small US heirloom seed company, and decided this was a bandwagon they could not afford to simply watch rumbling past.

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Genebank database hell goes mobile

3 May 2012

With a mighty leap, the ICARDA genebank has just landed squarely in the 21st century. You can now download an app and search the international collection managed by the centre from your Android phone. iPhone version coming soon. If you test it out, leave your comments here and they will reach the relevant ICARDA geek.

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Shea butter producers go digital

3 May 2012

Shea producers in Leo, Burkina Faso go Digital, a set by IICD on Flickr.

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Going, going, not gone?

2 May 2012

My circles on GooglePlus alerted me to a report from NPR in the US, that the country’s oldest extant seed company is facing bankruptcy. The D. Landreth Seed Company has been going since 1784, and is credited with introducing the zinnia to the US and with popularising the tomato when it offered seed for the [...]

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Berry Go Round hits 50

1 May 2012

While everyone else in the civilised world enjoys a May Day off, we’re still here, toiling to bring you the best of the interwebs. Today, that includes the 50th edition of Berry go Round, the carnival of botany blogging. Fittingly (and this wasn’t planned) the host this month is Laurent at Seeds Aside, who began [...]

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Indian animal genetic resources institute sets its priorities

30 April 2012

While looking for something else1 I came across the news on the website of India’s National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) that the genome of the water buffalo has been sequenced. I also found out that you can buy attractive calendars featuring native breeds such as the one you see here. And that NBAGR [...]

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Brainfood: Alfalfa, Date palm, Apricot, Collecting, Reintroduction, Ribes, Payments

30 April 2012

Assessment of genetic diversity among alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) genotypes by morphometry, seed storage proteins and RAPD analysis. Morphology fits with geography, the others don’t. Insights into the historical biogeography of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) using geometric morphometry of modern and ancient seeds. Analysis of seed outlines using fancy maths identifies centres of [...]

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