- Performance of 50 Lebanese barley landraces (Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare) in two locations under rainfed conditions. 47 individual plants were as good or better than the 2 checks in terms of grain yield per plant.
- Phylogenetic analysis of Aceh cattle breed of Indonesia through mitochondrial D-Loop region. A specific haplotype, mainly indicus but with some taurus.
- Genetic diversity assessment of in situ and ex situ Texas wild rice (Zizania texana) populations, an endangered plant. Diversity is dynamic in situ, and some of it is missing ex situ.
- Genetic Diversity, Population Structure, Parentage Analysis, and Construction of Core Collections in the French Apple Germplasm Based on SSR Markers. 2163 accessions divide into Old Dessert, Old Cider, and Modern Cultivar subgroups.
- Community Food Security: Resilience and Vulnerability in Vanuatu. High population pressure associated with shorter fallows but higher yields, not associated with purchasing of imported foodstuffs. Not clear what high crop diversity associated with.
- Using genomic repeats for phylogenomics: a case study in wild tomatoes (Solanum section Lycopersicon: Solanaceae). Repetition can be useful.
- The cocoa bean fermentation process: from ecosystem analysis to starter culture development. It takes a microbial community.
- Wild harvest: distribution and diversity of wild food plants in rice ecosystems of Northeast Thailand. There’s much more to rice than rice.
- Free seeds and food sovereignty: anthropology and grassroots agrobiodiversity conservation strategies in the US South. Activist anthropology for better food systems.
- Comparative Study of Hulled (Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt) and Naked Wheats (Durum and Bread Wheat): Agronomic Performance and Quality Traits. Will need to fiddle with classic baking techniques.
Mapping the Neolithic Revolution
Somehow we missed this great map of the Fertile Crescent from National Geographic. It came out just before Christmas, but we should have caught it, really. I hope they do similar ones for other cradles of agriculture around the world.
Changes at CGN
Congratulations to Bert Visser (pictured, right, entertaining visitors from the Korean genebank recently) on his retirement from the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands, the Dutch national genebank. And likewise congratulations to Sipke Joost Hiemstra and Theo van Hintum on taking over his responsibilities.
Nibbles: Svalbard, Fish tissue, Homegardens, Mothers’ seeds double, Citrus diversity, Paul Smith, Pulses, Hohokam, Nutrition profiles, Zulu cattle poetry, Cereals & CC, Soil biodiversity
- Svalbard on the BBC.
- Fish biorepository in Penang.
- Kitchen gardens in Kenya.
- Mothers transmitting seeds and knowledge to their daughters.
- Challenges faced by female farmers in preserving seeds after harvest: leave your suggestions. Maybe they could talk to the above?
- Trying to save citrus.
- Paul Smith of BGCI wins the Fairchild Medal. Congrats!!!
- The Washington Post has its finger on the pulses.
- “…a peaceful, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic economic system stretching from New Mexico to California that persisted for 600 years…”
- Country Nutrition Profiles: the infographics.
- The most beautiful cattle in the world.
- Extreme weather has been bad for cereals. Well I never.
- Threats to Europe’s soil biodiversity.
Virgin with crop wild relative
Went to the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne at the weekend, and what should I find but a 15th century tryptich of the Madonna holding a crop wild relative flower? Apparently it symbolises virginity.
